Mentoring students is one of my favorite parts of my job.\u00a0 I really enjoy the one on one time I spend in my office with students discussing their education, their future, and their lives in general.\u00a0 Sometimes this is done on an informal basis as students would stop by to visit and ask for advice or questions about class.<\/p>\n
One of my biggest honors since I have been at ACU was receiving the College of Arts and Sciences Student Mentoring Award<\/strong> for 2012-2013. I was touched to receive recognition for something that I really enjoy doing.<\/p>\n I have served as a departmental advisor for Biochemistry Health Science Track majors. For several years I advised all students in this track, but as our department grew, I had to admit I could no longer handle the load of 70+ advisees. I now have 20-30 advisees each year. As an advisor, I meet with each student at least once a year.\u00a0 Depending on the student this can be a short or a long meeting.\u00a0 Some students come in with color coded plans for their academic careers which I can look over and quickly spot or correct any problems, such as a class that is not offered in the semester they were planning on taking it.\u00a0 Other students have no plan.\u00a0 These students take quite a bit more time. I spend some of our advising time discussing what they need to take the next semester and some of the time talking about making more general plans for the future.<\/p>\n Like many parts of this portfolio, it is difficult to restrict mentoring to one category. Much of my one on one mentoring work spills over into Scholarship and Service. I spend many hours with my research students<\/span><\/a> not only performing scholarship, but also teaching and discussing day-to-day faith and life issues. I also mentor many students through my work as Director of Undergraduate Research<\/span><\/a>, both as part of that positions activities and as chair of the Student Panel on Undergraduate Research.<\/p>\n