Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Having been honored on campus earlier this year, three Mississippi State professionals now travel to the Windy City to be recognized at the highest level for helping students successfully complete their university course work.
Receiving the National Academic Advising Association's 2008 Outstanding Advising Awards are Chris Emplaincourt of the mechanical engineering department and Rachel L. Singleton of the College of Forest Resources. Angel Fason of the School of Human Sciences is being honored with an Outstanding New Adviser Certificate of Merit.
Emplaincourt and Singleton live in Starkville; Fason is a Eupora resident.
"Goes the extra mile," "caring character" and "passion to help students" are among accolades given the three by various campus nominators. Their awards are being presented in Chicago at the organization's Oct.1 national conference.
Chartered in 1979 and referred to typically by its acronym, NACADA has a membership of more than 10,000. From headquarters in Manhattan, Kan., it represents faculty members, professional advisers, administrators, counselors, and others in academic and student affairs who work daily to serve the intellectual, personal and vocational needs of students.
For many years, MSU has had at least one annual NACADA award winner.
In recent years, the campus-level awards have carried the name of Irvin Atly Jefcoat, a former faculty member much honored for his lifelong commitment to student advising.
Emplaincourt, a mechanical engineering instructor, entered the national competition after being selected for MSU's 2008 Jefcoat Excellence in Advising/FacultyAward. A campus employee since 1986, she also serves currently as the department's undergraduate program coordinator and assistant director of the land-grant institution's Industrial Assessment Center.
Emplaincourt holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Alabama and a second master's from MSU. Seven years ago, she was honored with a faculty/staff support award by the university's Career Services Office.
Singleton, academic coordinator for the College of Forest Resources since 1998, was selected for the 2008 Jefcoat Excellence in Advising/Primary Role Award. Prior to joining the forest resources staff, she held a similar position in the university's College of Business.
A bachelor's- and master's-degree graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Singleton holds adjunct faculty positions in marketing and continuing education, as well as a CFR guest lectureship.
Fason, human sciences' student services coordinator since 2005, was chosen for the Jefcoat Excellence/New Professional Adviser Award. Shortly after receiving the campus honor, she won NACADA's Southeast/Region IV Outstanding New Adviser Award.
An MSU bachelor's- and master's-degree graduate, Fason came to work on campus in 2001, originally with the MSU Extension Service.
After returning from Illinois, the three women will be involved Oct. 7 with the Mississippi Advisers' Meeting that annually brings together colleagues from all levels of the state's public and private higher education. The MAM gathering takes place this year on the Mississippi State campus.
In 2009, the university also will be host for NACADA's Southeast/Region IV annual meeting March 15-17.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, contact Emplaincourt at 662-325-8787 or emplaincourt@me.msstate.edu; Singleton, at 325-2646 or rsingleton@cfr.msstate.edu; and Fason, at 325-7703 or angelf@humansci.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.