Dawnelle S. Prince, program coordinator at the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering, has received the prestigious Rising Star Award from the Texas Association of College Admissions Counseling (TACAC).
Prince received the award in late April at a luncheon ceremony during this year's 22nd Annual Spring Conference in Dallas.
The award honors new members--with five years or less in the association--and programs that exemplify excellence and dedication to serving students in the transition from high school to college. Winners must be striving to make a difference within the association through their work in a committee or elected position.
An association member since 1999, Prince has been extremely active in the organization. She served as chair of the 2002 TACAC Conference Programs Planning Committee and has recently been named chair of the Information Support Services Committee, which will take responsibility for redesigning the association's Web site.
A graduate of Texas A&M University, Prince has been program coordinator for the college's highly successful Industrial Scholar Interns Program (ISIP) for the past two years. Before joining the college, Prince served as an undergraduate admissions counselor and recruiter for Texas A&M, and as a financial advisor for Blinn College. She also owned and operated her own small business, a cleaning service, while attending Texas A&M.
Prince launched the college's ISIP program two years ago, and has plans to work with TACAC volunteers to improve on the program's orientation and other sessions designed to help the students with everything from time management skills to interviewing skills.
"TACAC is helping me to create a better ISIP," says Prince, "so that our students can be well rounded and well prepared for the challenges that lie ahead. TACAC is helping me accomplish those goals."
And Prince is helping TACAC accomplish its goals. With more than 700 members, the Texas association is preparing to form a lobby effort to work with the Texas Legislature on issues defined in Senate Bill 158, which mandates the advisement of counselors in K-12 programs statewide. Prince is helping the association plan a special Legislative symposium in Austin in 2003 designed to carry the messages of the association and the needs of the students to the lawmakers with the power to make changes.
ISIP offers an opportunity for undergraduate engineering students to obtain scholarship funding plus earn extra money and valuable work experience through an internship guaranteed to program participants during their junior and senior year.
The program takes advantage of the location of the university in the City of Houston to form alliances with local industry for the benefit of the students. Industrial partners provide scholarship funds for a student through the four years of their Bachelors degree program and provide an internship opportunity during their last two years.
TACAC is the Texas section of the National Association of College Admissions Counseling, an organization of 7,900 professionals from around the world dedicated to serving students as they make choices about pursuing postsecondary education. NACAC is committed to maintaining high standards that foster ethical and social responsibility among those involved in the transition process between high school and college.