Illinois State University’s Susan Woollen, assistant to the chair for the Criminal Justice Sciences department, is the 2011 recipient of the Herb Sanders Award for Outstanding Academic Advisement.
The award was established by friends of Herb Sanders, a member of the faculty from 1949 until his death in 1980, to recognize advisors who demonstrate a caring attitude for students, who are assertive in their contacts with students and who support campus wide academic advisement.
Woollen received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas at San Antonio and her master’s degree in educational administration and foundations from Illinois State. Prior to working in Criminal Justice Sciences, Woollen was an associate director of Admissions at Illinois State for 10 years.
Woollen advises over 500 majors and 80 minors and serves as a member of the department’s curriculum, assessment, development and scholarship/awards committees. She has served on more than 20 institutional committees, including Professional Development for Academic Advisors, the American Democracy Project and the Council for the First-Year Experience, and she represented constituent groups through memberships on the Administrative and Professional Council and the Department and School Advisors Council. Woollen’s published research on student engagement, learning and satisfaction is aimed at enhancing student experiences in higher education, and she is currently a co-investigator on a project that examines the various learning styles of distance education learners in order to improve the delivery of on-line course modules.
