Western Oregon University Assistant Professor and Advisor Brooke Dolenc Nott’s compassionate and thoughtful approach to empower students has earned her international recognition.

Nott is the recipient of the 2020 Outstanding New Advisor in the Faculty Advising category from the NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, an organization with more than 14,000 international members promoting and supporting quality academic advising in institutions of higher education. The award honors individuals making significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising within higher education internationally. Nott is the first WOU faculty member to be a recipient of the New Advisor in Faculty Advising award and joins many fellow WOU faculty and staff members who have been selected for NACADA Outstanding Advisor awards in other categories. To see other prior award winners, visit NACADA Awards.

Nott will be recognized for her achievements at the annual NACADA conference in October in Puerto Rico. She earned the international award after first being named WOU Faculty Advisor of the Year last June and the Certificate of Merit of Region 8 Excellence in Advising – Faculty Advisor, NACADA in December.

Nott joined WOU’s Behavioral Sciences Division as a visiting professor in 2017. She earned her doctorate and master’s degrees from Oregon State University. Her research focuses on adolescent development, emerging adulthood and homelessness. Along with her teaching and advising responsibilities, she oversees the WOU-Talmadge Mentoring Program.

Honored to be nominated for the award by her colleagues and students, Nott said she tries to understand how a person’s background and narrative shapes their present experiences, successes and disappointments. As an advisor, teacher and researcher, she respectfully approaches each student to learn how to guide them in their decision-making.

“Each of us brings so much of our past to our present interactions, and it’s always important for me to respect that with students – acknowledging the diversity of experience students bring with them, where they’ve come from and where they’re hoping to go,” Nott said. “It’s my expectation that students would come away being listened to and knowing I believe in them.”