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Star Family Prizes recognize College advisers

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Photo by Martha Stewart

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Harvard College’s Advising Programs Office virtually awarded advisers from throughout the University with the prestigious Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising. The Star Prizes were established by James A. Star ’83 to recognize and reward individuals who contribute to the College through their exemplary intellectual and personal guidance of undergraduate students.

Prizes are awarded each year in the categories of: first-year, sophomore, concentration, and faculty advisers.

Nominations for the award were sought from the undergraduate student body earlier this year, and selection committees comprised of College staff, previous Star Prize recipients, and peer advising fellows (PAFs) chose from competitive pools of nominees to select this year’s recipients.

First-year advising

Sarah L. Duncan 
Manager of IT Operations, IQSS; A.B. ’84  in engineering and applied science, M.Div. ’07

Anca Wilkening
Ph.D. candidate in the study of Religion at Harvard GSAS, first-year proctor at Harvard College

Sophomore advising

Lawrence R. De Geest
Resident tutor, Leverett House

Harita Koya
Resident tutor, Mather House

Gorick Ng
Author, Harvard Business Review; resident tutor, Adams House; research associate, Harvard Business School

Concentration advising

Franckie Castro-Ramirez
Ph.D. candidate of clinical science; GSAS diversity & inclusion fellow of psychology; senior tutor, Leverett House

Paul Chouchana
Graduate student in comparative literature

Dominic Mao
Lecturer on molecular and cellular biology, assistant director of undergraduate studies (MCB and CPB)

Faculty advising

Christina Ciocca Eller
Assistant professor, sociology and social studies

Paul J. Kosmin
Philip J. King Professor of Ancient History

Rebecca Lemov
Professor of the history of science

Sindhu Revuluri, associate dean of academic engagement for the Office of Undergraduate Education noted: “Especially this year, when advising relationships required connecting virtually, we are so happy to be able to recognize the extraordinary efforts of our colleagues. We received so many thoughtful and moving nominations, and we are grateful to all advisers for their continued dedication and commitment to our students.”

Visit https://advising.college.harvard.edu/star-prize-2021 to read reflections on advising from this year’s awardees.

Congratulations to the 2021 nominees and recipients of the Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising!

Harvard Faculty and Staff who are interested in serving on the Board of First-year Advisers should contact advising@fas.harvard.edu for more information.