Viola Bartel is all smiles after being recognized for her academic advising.

Viola Bartel will head to Colorado this fall to pick up one of the biggest accolades of her advising career – an award from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).

Bartel, administrator in the Department of Sociology, will receive an Outstanding Advising Certificate of Merit in the Academic Advising – Primary Role category. She will be honoured at the NACADA conference in Denver in October.

The awards span the U.S. and Canada, which includes thousands of advisors. The recognition is a huge honour, Bartel said.

“When they first sent me an email telling me I’d won, I replied and said ‘Are you sure you sent me the right email?’” said Bartel, who has been advising at Brock for about eight years.

Bartel helps develop timetables and curriculum based on the degree needs of the students she advises.

“One of the greatest things about this job is seeing the students graduate, achieve their goals and sort successfully through their degree requirements,” she said. “Many of them go on to graduate school and develop interesting careers. That is really great to see and exciting to be a part of.”

John Sorenson, department chair, nominated her. Students and co-workers also contributed letters of support. Just reading those was a reward, she said.

The NACADA awards are presented to people who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding academic advising. The association has more than 10,000 members.