This year’s College of Engineering Outstanding Staff and Teaching Award winners were announced Friday, Aug. 19, representing some of the best work in the last year by the College’s support staff and faculty.
The awards were presented by Dean Richard B. Brown during the annual fall faculty meeting, held in the Rio Tinto Kennecott Mechanical Engineering Building.
Outstanding Staff Award — Joy Velarde, undergraduate advisor, Mechanical Engineering
For some new students, college can start out as a rough-and-tumble journey, and they need a strong advocate to help guide them to academic success. Joy Velarde in the Department of Mechanical Engineering has proven she is the right person to come to for direction and support.
As a member of the department’s Undergraduate Student Advisory Committee, Joy co-created a new peer-mentoring program that resulted in more than 30 mentors, helping some 300 students in their studies. She also developed a tutoring program for undergraduates that utilized mechanical engineering tutors exclusively and has proven to be a great success for the department and its students.
Joy is a prime example that an effective and caring advisor can help bring about life-affirming changes to students yearning for guidance. We’re proud of her work, her dedication and her unwavering desire to see our students prosper.