On May 14, 2025, over 250 members of the Advising, Career Services, and Learning Support communities met in Varsity Hall at Union South to celebrate their accomplishments. It was a great opportunity to be together and celebrate another successful academic year, and a chance to recognize the outstanding individuals who received an award.
During the event, the room was full of cheering, laughter, and tears as offices celebrated their colleagues and reflected on the impact each and every person has had over the past year. Some award winners brought family and friends to celebrate with them, and the energy of the day was a great reminder of how important these communities are on campus.
Congratulations to each of the award recipients, and to everyone who shows up to work every day and makes an impact, large or small. Thank you for all you do!
2025 Award Winners
Early Career Excellence Award
Monica Prado
Center for Academic Excellence
“Whether she is facilitating an event such as the first-gen celebration, running an advisory board meeting, or holding appointments, the space around her is buzzing with student energy. Monica creates a space for students to be their authentic selves and students are drawn to her because she is energetic, caring, and honest.”
Early Career Excellence Award
Megan Aley
SuccessWorks
“Not only is she thoughtful and incredibly intelligent, serving as a vital resource throughout my onboarding, she is also an enthusiastic proponent of work-life balance. This has been invaluable in my return to work as a new employee and working parent. She upholds high standards for her team, ensuring we deliver great services to our students and professional colleagues, while still leading with kindness and integrity, making her a joy to work with.”
Community Leadership Award
Aygul Hoffman
Center for Academic Excellence
“Aygul makes invaluable long-lasting positive change in so many ways by fostering systemic change such as the Learning Support Group and the Tutor Development conference, as well as through the inspiration and encouragement she provides to those with whom she works. Her leadership contributed to the foundation for the learning support collaborations at UW–Madison and with other institutions in the Big Ten.”
Collaborative Impact Award
Ibrahim Baalbaki & Sarina Strnad
Center for Educational Opportunity
“Their complementary strengths, shared vision, and innovative approaches have not only elevated the Peer Navigator program but have fundamentally strengthened CeO’s ability to serve our most vulnerable student populations.”
“Individually, they are amazing advisors who put significant amounts of energy, thought, and care into their student meetings. Together they are a force of nature.”
Outstanding Achievement Award
Dija Selimi
Center for Pre-Health Advising
“Dija is continuously willing to explore new ideas and experiment with different courses of action, allowing us to thoughtfully disrupt the status quo and really analyze why we are doing the things we are doing. Further, she is also always open to feedback conversations, providing substantial validation and support within a realm of advising that is full of complicated questions and constant change.”
Keystone Support Award
Lynn Sankey
School of Education Career Center
“Lynn’s ability to engage with so many different stakeholders, sometimes front and center and oftentimes behind-the-scenes, and to help ensure everyone feels supported, cared for, and aware of their own unique value is simply an art.”
“Lynn get’s us across the finish line every time, and I’m so grateful for her partnership!”
Keystone Support Award
Jazmine Zuniga Paiz
PEOPLE
“For Jazmine, empathy is automatic and abundant. I invite you to speak with any staff member she has supervised in her time with our organization. Pick one at random. Anyone you chose would tell you that she is a caring supervisor who provides clear goals, healthy boundaries, and plenty of insights for their own professional development.”
Outstanding Student Employee Awards
Annalisa Solis
SuccessWorks
“We all know that by the nature of working with so many students with different perspectives and expectations, it is rare to receive universally positive feedback as an advisor. However, Annalisa has received nothing but positive reviews from the students she advises, and has earned the praise of being ‘welcoming… supportive’ and ‘helpful’ from her students.”
Megan Wiertzema
L&S Academic Affairs
“I give student employees a lot of agency in the projects that need to be accomplished and have elevated expectations that Megan always exceeds. She is confident and works well independently while also mentoring other student employees. She collaborates well with professionals on project teams. She is inquisitive and seeks new experiences to learn from others.”
Abbigail Hickman
Great University Tutoring Service (GUTS)
“A strong work ethic and relentless drive are at the heart of Abbigail’s gritty disposition. She shines in her position because she shows up to every shift with a willingness to learn and put in hard work. Abbigail has taken on countless responsibilities that she didn’t have prior experience with, including utilizing Eloqua and Qualtrics. Through a combination of thorough research, asking good questions, and an “I’ll figure it out” attitude, she’s been able to master challenging software to tackle complex problems.”
Jasmine Lutz & Yaira Yanel Rodriguez-Lazaro
PEOPLE
“Both Jasmine and Yaira played a pivotal role in developing the internship program into the effective, creative, and collaborative process it is today. It would have been easy for these two Interns to develop a workplace culture where they worked on projects independently of each other. Despite not having a pre-existing relationship, and only having one day each week where they had overlapping work schedules, these two made the most of their time together and prioritized partnership in effectively addressing our program needs with minimal oversight.”
Campus Partner Award
The Wisconsin Union Event Staff
Each year, the Office of Academic & Career Success chooses a campus partner to recognize and honor for their contributions to the Advising, Career Services, and Learning Support Communities! In the the last two academic years alone, OACS has offered more than 160 events in Wisconsin Union spaces! Between room reservations, catering orders, day-of technology needs and MANY other details, the Wisconsin Union Event Staff keep our events running smoothly throughout the year.
A special thank you to Hayley Snell, Sawyer Johnson, and Steve Zywicki for their support at so many of our Wisconsin Union events!
