COSAM's Office of Student Services Among Best in Nation

Student advisors play an integral role in the educational experience of all COSAM students, offering guidance and assistance as they navigate their way through college with an eye toward a career. COSAM boasts Auburn’s premier advising team as the college’s Office of Student Services has four current and past advisors who are recipients of national awards given in recognition of dedication to the field. No other college on campus has a single recipient of a national advising award.

his year, COSAM student advisors Krysta Diehl and Beverley Childress both received awards from the National Academic Advising Association in honor of their significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising. Diehl was honored with the Outstanding Advising Award - Primary Advising Role. The Outstanding Advising Award annually recognizes individuals who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding academic advising of students. Diehl grew up in Plant City, Fla., about 20 miles from Tampa. She made Auburn her home when she began working at the university as an advisor with COSAM in 2006. Her bachelor’s degree in education is from the University of South Florida, and she taught in Florida schools before moving to LaGrange, Ga. She then completed her master’s degree in counseling at Columbus State University and completed an internship at the CSU Counseling Center. It was there she discovered her passion for working with college students. She and her husband of 33 years, John, have three grown sons and six grandchildren.

Childress received the CIG (Commissions and Interest Groups) Service Award - Advising in Academic Programs II. The award was created to recognize an individual who has provided outstanding service, leadership, and commitment to a specific commission, interest group, or cluster of the National Academic Advising Association Commissions and Interest Groups, which provide members an opportunity to join others with similar academic or specific student population interests in advising. Childress was chairman of the NACADA Health Professions Advising Interest Group for five years, has given numerous presentations at conferences, and has been published in two journals. She grew up in Mobile, Ala., and she and her husband, Boyd, moved to Auburn in 1981. She has a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and a master’s degree in counseling, and served as a middle school and high school teacher, counselor, and administrator over a period of 22 years. She accepted a position as an academic advisor with COSAM in 1996, and was named the director of the Pre-Health Professions Programs for Auburn in 2000. Childress, who works diligently to help Auburn students reach their personal and vocational goals, said she loves her job and her amazing students.

In addition to Diehl and Childress, Lawrence Wit, associate dean emeritus of COSAM, and Elizabeth Yarbrough, PhD, director of student services, also received awards from the National Academic Advising Association. In 2003, Wit received the award for Outstanding Advising Administrator, and in 2002, Yarbrough received an Outstanding Advisor Award.

The awards are presented at a ceremony held during the NACADA Annual Conference. The association has more than 10,000 members nationwide and provides a network and professional identity for thousands of faculty, full-time advisors, and administrators whose responsibilities include academic advising.