Awards
The ACUM Outstanding Advising Award, inaugurated in 2022, honors the dedication and excellence of staff and faculty advisers across all schools and colleges at the Ann Arbor campus. It serves as a platform to acknowledge their invaluable contributions to student success and academic guidance.
Now Accepting Nominations for the 2025 Advising Awards
It’s that time of year again! Please invite students to show their appreciation to the advisors they love working with by nominating them for the ACUM and LSA Advising Awards.
The nomination form will be available until February 28, 2025 at noon. Winners will be announced at the ACUM Advising Conference on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
All U-M advisors are eligible to win an ACUM Advising Award. LSA Advisors are also eligible to win an LSA Advising Award.
Award winners will be announced at the ACUM Advising Conference in May.
Who is eligible to be nominated?
All staff and faculty who advise, coach, or mentor undergraduate or graduate students are eligible for this award. We define “advisor” expansively. (See below for separate awards for graduate faculty mentors and dissertation advisors.)
Who is eligible to nominate an advisor?
The ACUM Advising Awards are student-nominated, so all undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to nominate an advisor.
What will the winner(s) receive?
In addition to the honor of being recognized, two winners will each receive a $1,500 prize, and all advisors nominated will receive anonymized copies of their nominations. These testimonials mean a tremendous amount to advisors, as the full impact of their work with students isn’t always visible.
How do I nominate my advisor?
The nomination form will be available until February 28th at noon. Winners will be announced at the ACUM Advising Conference on Thursday, May 8th.
How do I nominate tenured faculty who are outstanding mentors of doctoral students?
Additional awards sponsored by the Rackham Graduate School are available for tenured faculty:
John H. D’Arms Faculty Awards for Distinguished Graduate Mentoring in the Humanities
Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award for dissertations advisors
Past Award Recipients
2024
Michelle Sonderman, Student Administration Manager, College of Engineering, Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences
Samantha Wilhelmi, Program Manager, Cancer Biology Program, Michigan Medicine
Read more about the 2023 recipients in the University Record.
2023
Jordan Long, Academic Advisor in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Leonora Lucaj, Undergraduate Student Advisor in the College of Engineering
Read more about the 2023 recipients in the University Record.
2022
Bryan Abma, Academic Advisor in LSA’s Newnan Academic Advising Center
Kristel Oelke, Senior Undergraduate Academic Advisor in the College of Engineering
Read more about the 2022 recipients in the University Record.