Every year, Virginia Tech presents a department on campus with an Exemplary Department award, which is a great honor to have bestowed upon any department. This year, University Studies/University Academic Advising Center (
www.uaac.vt.edu) was the proud recipient of the award, which included a $10,000 prize we can use to better the department.
This year there were three awards, and we were recognized at a reception at the Skelton Inn and Conference Center. University Studies is for freshman and sophomore students who don’t have a major, and they are either undecided about what they want to major in, know what they want to major in but still have unmet requirements to fulfill, or for students who are in between majors.
Because we are not degree granting, we do not get much recognition, nor do we have any alumni to support our office, so this award is a really big deal. The reception was very nice, and we had fun mingling amongst ourselves and amongst the other departments present.
And, I met someone from Waco! I felt a little odd interrupting a conversation, which I later found out was between a Provost and a Dean and his wife, which is kind of a big deal, but how often do you hear someone mention Waco in Virginia? The Dean definitely agreed with us that we might the right decision moving back to Virginia, but I think his wife might have been a bit offended, as she was from Waco. I blamed it on the wine! Congrats US! Check out this article for more:
Exemplary Department
Every year, Virginia Tech presents a department on campus with an Exemplary Department award, which is a great honor to have bestowed upon any department. This year, University Studies/University Academic Advising Center (www.uaac.vt.edu) was the proud recipient of the award, which included a $10,000 prize we can use to better the department. 
This year there were three awards, and we were recognized at a reception at the Skelton Inn and Conference Center. University Studies is for freshman and sophomore students who don’t have a major, and they are either undecided about what they want to major in, know what they want to major in but still have unmet requirements to fulfill, or for students who are in between majors. 
Because we are not degree granting, we do not get much recognition, nor do we have any alumni to support our office, so this award is a really big deal. The reception was very nice, and we had fun mingling amongst ourselves and amongst the other departments present. 
And, I met someone from Waco! I felt a little odd interrupting a conversation, which I later found out was between a Provost and a Dean and his wife, which is kind of a big deal, but how often do you hear someone mention Waco in Virginia? The Dean definitely agreed with us that we might the right decision moving back to Virginia, but I think his wife might have been a bit offended, as she was from Waco. I blamed it on the wine! Congrats US! Check out this article for more: Exemplary Department
I loved the university studies dept and found it was actually much more helpful and beneficial than when I actually declared a major and had to work with their advisorswho didn't know what was going on. Glad you're getting the recognition!
ReplyDeleteAngela,
ReplyDeleteI too might have offended some members of the Newport News tourism board at a christmas luncheon last week for executives in Va that my boss took me too and it wasn't the mimosa's I was drinking!! I was excited to talk with them about Newport News but it's also newport news and no matter how you portray it - the 757 will always be the 757. They thought it was the best place to live ever (they just moved there recently) and that traffic wasn't an issue. It's also their job to sell Newport News so I probably wouldn't have gotten a negative comment from them ever.