Lincoln, Neb. — Deepak Keshwani, associate professor of practice in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, and Brandi Sigmon, associate professor of practice in the Department of Plant Pathology, received the Lawrence K. Crowe Outstanding Undergraduate Advising Award on Nov. 15. This award recognizes faculty members who have made outstanding contributions in undergraduate advising.
Keshwani is primarily an academic adviser and leader for students in the Mechanized Systems Management (MYSM) undergraduate program. He believes in transformative advising by empowering students to take ownership of their own academic success. He integrates advising and teaching by incorporating high impact student success practices such as academic planning, self reflection, strengths-based goal setting and alumni engagement into the introductory MSYM course.
He also developed a cornerstone class at the sophomore level that uses project-based learning to build community among students and incorporates career development strategies in the context of the major. Keshwani is also a faculty sponsor for the Ag Futures First-Year Learning Community.
Brandi Sigmon came to Nebraska in the fall semester of 2015. Prior to this time, she did her doctoral and postdoctoral work in genetics at Iowa State University and was later a lecturer at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. A semester after starting as a research assistant professor at Nebraska she began academic advising for undergraduate Microbiology Program for both CASNR and the College of Arts and Sciences. In addition to academic advising, Sigmon is currently working to help build the curriculum for the Microbiology program and is involved in developing assessments for advising and academic programs.