Professional News

Recipients of the 2024 Ken Freedman Awards announced

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 28, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Advising Network has recently announced the recipients of the 2024 Ken Freedman Awards during the Ken Freedman Day of Recognition awards ceremony.

Each year, the Ken Freedman Outstanding Advisor Award is presented by the UK Advising Network to one full-time professional advisor and one faculty advisor for outstanding service. Ken Freedman, the award’s namesake, was one of the founders of the UK Advising Network in 1986 and served as a professional advisor at UK until his death in 2001.

The winners are selected by a committee steered by the UK Advising Network following nominations by students, faculty and staff members. These awards are made possible through the support of the Office of the Vice President for Student Success. Awardees in all categories are also nominated by the UK Advising Network for the Region 3 and national NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) awards.

This year’s Professional Advisor award went to Phyllis Nally from the College of Arts and Sciences. Nally currently serves as a senior advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences, primarily working with pre-health students. 

This year’s Faculty Advisor award winner is Mary Rossano, Ph.D., from the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment. Rossano is an associate professor and a university research professor. She teaches undergraduate courses in equine management and animal science. 

Britt Frye is the recipient of this year's Outstanding Advising Administrator award. Frye serves as the Assistant Director of Academic Advising in the Lewis Honors College

Finally, this year's Outstanding New Advisor award winner is Sipera Simons, who currently serves as an Academic Advisor in the College of Design

NACADA Aligned Award winners include:
Region 3 Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Advising — Elizabeth Spencer, Ph.D., College of Communication and Information

To see the full list of previous Ken Freedman awardees, click here; to see the full list of University of Kentucky advisors recognized by NACADA, click here.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.