Excerpts from comments made by Dean Andrews:
Over the past several years the College of Arts and Sciences has honored a deeply deserving faculty member for his or her outstanding service to students in the field of mentoring and advising through the Becky Houck Award for Excellence in Advising. In significant ways, the Becky Houck Award speaks clearly and graciously to the highest values of the College’s commitment to cura personalis — “care of the whole person.” Trudie Booth, our 2015 award recipient, is a one-woman show who advises 26 majors and 17 minors, though that number of 43 advisees is certain to increase by the end of the academic year.
Indeed, one might say that Madame Booth not only encourages her students to become global citizens: she inspires them and models for them what global citizenship actually entails. A francophile who inspires her students to embrace their UP education in order to lead and effect positive change in an ever-increasing global world, Trudie exemplifies what is meant by having that certain je ne sais qua that makes her such a deeply valued colleague and friend to all of us in the College. Madame Booth is solely responsible for the French Studies major. As a Lecturer she regularly offers Directed Studies to help some majors get the courses they need and the credit hours necessary when schedules are tight. In order to serve her advisees and help them create a schedule of study that is consistent with their educational goals and which reinforces their language and cultural mastery in French, Trudie maintains close contact with faculty in many other departments — such as History, Philosophy, and Political Science — in order to assist her students schedule the most advanced level courses available. In effect, Trudie single handedly creates opportunities through cross-curricular programming that exemplifies the lived value of global competency.
Her mentoring of undergraduates is only surpassed by her amazing contact with alumni who come back to visit and share their experiences with students and faculty in the French Studies Program. Trudie exemplifies the principles that inform the College’s Holy Cross mission in education. She teaches hearts, minds, and actions in the world. Because of her generosity, our French Studies students receive the blessings of having a rich and meaningful education that continues to enrich their lives and their families and communities long after they leave the Bluff.
Congratulations, Trudie!
Source: https://wordpress.up.edu/cas/2015/03/16/trudie-booth-wins-becky-houck-award/
