Congratulations to Danielle Shu, Food and Resource Economics’ Academic Advisor for her recent award of the Global 2021 NACADA Outstanding New Advising – Academic Advising Primary Role. Danielle started in the department as an Academic Assistant in late 2018 before being promoted to Academic Advisor in May 2019.
The Outstanding New Advising Award is presented to individuals serving in an academic advising role for less than 3 years and has demonstrated outstanding advising qualities including support of the NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) Core Values and high impact with advisees.
Since starting in Food and Resource Economics, Danielle has taken the lead on several projects including a LinkedIn alumni database, Plan for Academic Student Success (PASS, student support program within the department), recruitment rebranding, and is planning the launch of the Agricultural Mentorship Program with the help of Savannah Maddox, and student leaders.
To quote Dr. House, FRE Department Chair, “Danielle has brought data and documentation to our advising program. Though this might not sound exciting to most people, Danielle transformed the way we approach advising from being reactive to proactive based on these documents. Danielle spent her time as an academic assistant learning about the program and what challenges our students faced. When she moved into the advisor position, she was able to use that knowledge to develop processes to proactively help students. As a former undergraduate coordinator in the department, I can attest to this being the most active advising I have seen with our students, and I believe the result is going to be higher graduation rates and a stronger student body.”
It has been a very successful year for advising in FRE. In addition to the NACADA global award, Danielle received 5 other awards including those from NACADA Region 4, NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators), and the University of Florida. Danielle states, “I absolutely love and am thankful to work in such an amazing department here at UF. I have such a close connection with faculty and am able to really get to know many of our students. With the support and collaboration in FRE and CALS, I feel we have been able to create such a positive environment for our students. The team here is really who we need to thank as they are the reason advising has been able to run so efficiently and effectively.”
As we gear up for in-person operations this Fall semester, Danielle is excited to welcome back students in 1170 McCarty Hall A starting August 16th.
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