12/04/12 ks
HAYS, Kan. -- Fort Hays State University garnered several
honors last weekend during the national meeting of the Association of
Fraternity/Sorority Advisors, including a top award for Dr. Tisa Mason, vice
president for Student Affairs.
Mason won the Sue Kraft Fussell Distinguished Service Award.
She was recognized for her commitment over many years to the profession of
higher education administration and the specialty of fraternity and sorority
advising. She is involved in the fraternal movement through AFA, NASPA, CSCF
and Sigma Kappa.
This award was created in 1985 and re-named for AFA’s second
executive director, Sue Kraft Fussell, in 2006. The purpose of the award is to
recognize individuals who have exhibited outstanding achievements in one or
more of the following areas: service to AFA; programming and/or service that
reaches beyond the recipient’s campus/organization; development and research
activities; and/or service to the college and fraternity/sorority communities.
The Awards and Recognition Committee noted: "Tisa seeks
out opportunities to make a difference and serve others. Her service has
impacted many and her commitment reaches far and wide. Tisa got involved early
and continues to serve in so many ways to advocate for the fraternal movement
and the profession of fraternity and sorority advising."
The awards were presented on Saturday, Dec. 1, during the
AFA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. In addition to the award for Mason, FHSU
won a second award, for Vinay Patel, director of McMindes Hall, and an
honorable mention for a student project.
"I am proud of the very talented and dedicated
staff of the FHSU Division of Student Affairs," Mason said. "Every
day our extraordinary team provides services and creates opportunities for
students to connect, engage and succeed. We do this by 'walking our talk'
through a relentless focus on our vision, mission and values. That focus helps
us work collaboratively with the faculty, resulting in students who earn
regional and national recognition through initiatives such as Feed Mee Now.
From our newer professionals such as Vinay Patel to our senior level staff such
as Shana Meyer, the core of our division is the enthusiasm for professional
development and service."
Patel received the Outstanding New Professional Award. This
award is presented to an individual who has been in the profession less than
five years, is a NASPA member, and has made significant contributions to his or
her campus, the regional organization and the profession. The winner of this
award is recognized at the NASPA Awards Luncheon at the national conference.
Every region has one award winner in this category.
"Vinay is known for his out-of-the-box thinking and
problem solving approaches," said one of the nomination letters. "His
familiarity with computer systems and technology trends makes him the
unofficial guru for the division. … As director of the largest residence hall
on campus, Vinay has a direct and measurable impact on the daily lives of his
students. … Vinay is a shining example of how to make the most of those first
years in the profession."
In addition, the FHSU Division of Student Affairs won a
second place honorable mention in the Innovative Program Award category for a
program that encourages healthy eating. The award is presented to professionals
and their institution for developing and implementing a program that results in
improved educational activities, services or management for an individual
campus community or group of campus communities.
Mason said the category had the most nominations in recent
history, so the awards committee opted to select three honorable mentions in
addition to the winner. She had seen a capstone presentation by students in the
FHSU Department of Informatics and thought it was perfect for the Innovative
Program Award category. The student team connected with Residential Life and
the FHSU Wellness Center to create a media-rich website, called "Feed Mee
Now," that provides information for students on how to prepare nutritious,
quick and cost-effective meals as an alternative to fast food.
In another recent development, Mason and Dr. Shana Meyer, assistant
vice president for Student Affairs, contributed to a just released book,
"Building a Culture of Evidence in Student Affairs: A Guide for Leaders
and Practitioners." The book, which is an interactive tutorial that
illustrates how to document with hard data the significant contributions Student
Affairs Divisions make to students' access, persistence and completion of
college degrees, was published by NASPA and funded by a grant from the Lumina
Foundation.
Mason and Meyer co-authored Module 4, "Using Outcomes
and Rubrics in Student Affairs.