2021 NAGAP Award Winners

Every year at the NAGAP GEM Summit, we come together to recognize and celebrate the many accomplishments of our members and their dedication to not only our organization, but also the GEM profession. This year, the Awards Committee received a large pool of extremely qualified nominees. The 2021 NAGAP Award winners are:

Distinguished Service Award: Julia Deland, Director of Admissions at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Julie joined the Harvard Graduate School of Education community over 20 years ago and has spent the past 14 years as part of the HGSE admissions team. As director, she manages a team of eight admissions professionals, and together they support doctoral and master’s programs in education as well as a certificate of advanced study in counseling. The HGSE Admissions Office is responsible for marketing and recruitment; application processing, evaluation, and notification; and yield initiatives. In addition, Julie works closely with HGSE’s associate dean for enrollment and student services on enrollment management strategy. Julie has been an active member of NAGAP: The Association for Graduate Enrollment Management for over 13 years. She served on four NAGAP conference committees, including serving as chair for two annual conferences. She then served two terms as NAGAP’s vice president, one term as the president of NAGAP, and one term on the NAGAP Board of Governors as the association’s immediate past president. She is now a member of the External Relations and Partnerships Committee.

Future Leader Award: Andrew Crawford, Associate Director of Graduate Admission at Bentley University Graduate School of Business

Andy has over seven years of higher education admissions experience and 12 years of experience working in marketing and sales capacities. He began his admissions career at the University of New England in 2014 and now supports Bentley University's Graduate School of Business as associate director of graduate admission. Andy holds a bachelor's degree in English Communications from Emmanuel College and an MBA from Saint Joseph’s College of Maine. He has been a member of NAGAP since 2014 and serves as chair of the Marketing & Recruitment Committee for the New England regional chapter, NEGAP. Andy has presented at both national and regional NAGAP events with a focus on marketing and recruitment strategies. You can find his presentation on Delivering Parallel Experiences for On-Campus and Virtual Recruiting Events at this year's Summit.

Chapter Leader Award: Leslie Lichter, Program Coordinator – Cellular and Molecular Medicine Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Leslie Lichter has been the program coordinator at the Johns Hopkins University Cellular and Molecular Medicine Program in Baltimore, Maryland, for 15 years. Leslie started her career at Johns Hopkins in 2001 working in the original Stem Cell Lab, the beginning of her experience working with graduate students and understanding their needs from the perspective of the lab environment. Leslie has served on the NAGAP Chapter Presidents Committee. She was elected as the first secretary of BioGAP when it became a NAGAP Chapter in 2011 and has continued to serve in every board position, including president. Leslie has presented numerous times at various national, special interest, and regional conferences, most recently on GRExit at the NAGAP 2019 Annual Conference. Leslie received her BS from Towson University.

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2021 NAGAP AWARD WINNERS CONTINUED

Promotion of Excellence Award: Sara Mumolo and Krista Varela Posell, Saint Mary’s College of California Creative Writing Program

Sara Mumolo serves as the associate director for the MFA in Creative Writing program at Saint Mary’s College of California where she manages the program's enrollment marketing and fundraising. She is the author of two poetry collections and has received residencies to the Vermont Studio Center, Caldera Center for the Arts, and Pro Arts Gallery. Mumolo is also the recipient of a 2021 Poetry and the Senses Fellowship from UC Berkeley’s Arts Research Center.

Sara Mumolo Krista Varela Posell

Krista Varela Posell has been working in graduate enrollment management for two years at Saint Mary's College of California, where she serves as a program assistant for the MFA in Creative Writing program. Before that, she taught undergraduate writing and has been published in Across the Disciplines for collaborative research exploring Writing in the Disciplines course enhancements in STEM. She received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Saint Mary's in 2014, and her essays have been published widely in literary journals and commercial outlets.

Visionary Award: Tabitha M. Hardy, PhD, Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Graduate Education and Assistant Dean for Student Development and Academic Affairs, Indiana University- Purdue University at Indianapolis Graduate School

Tabitha M. Hardy, PhD, is the interim assistant vice chancellor for graduate education and assistant dean for student development and academic affairs within the University Graduate School and IUPUI Graduate Office. She also holds a faculty appointment as a lecturer in the department of Biology at IUPUI. Dr. Hardy is the youngest of 10 children and the first in her family to obtain a college degree. Dr. Hardy has successfully navigated academia as a first-generation minority female in STEM at both minority and majority serving institutions. Dr. Hardy received her BS in Biology Education from Alcorn State University, her Master's in Biology from Jackson State University and her PhD from Indiana University School of Medicine in Microbiology and Immunology. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she studied breast cancer health disparities and epigenetics, she held an appointment as an assistant professor of biology at Stillman College, a historically black college in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Dr. Hardy has a wealth of teaching and research experience and has also received numerous internal and external grants to fund her research and various projects. In her current roles, Dr. Hardy builds and sustains campus and community academics, research, and career partnerships; prepares grants; and teaches contemporary biology and career and professional development courses. She also recruits and advises graduate and professional students and works with faculty as the director of the Preparing Future Faculty & Professionals (PFFP) program, in addition to planning and administering the annual campus visit program “Getting You into IUPUI” and coordinating activities for summer and post-baccalaureate programs. Additionally, Dr. Hardy has widespread experience in professional programming, mentoring, and guiding students to discover and pursue their educational path. She is particularly focused on developing programs fostering graduate and professional student success, academic affairs related to graduate and professional programs, and the recruitment and retention of diverse students.