Each year, NISTS recognizes exemplary transfer advocates who are influencing policies, practices, and programs to benefit transfer students. This year, we were thrilled to recognize nine outstanding winners in three different categories at NISTS 2024 in St. Louis. Please join us in congratulating these amazing professionals and students!
Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion - Rising Star Awards
The Rising Star Award recognizes individuals who are making important contributions but are relatively new to the transfer field. Awardees create new programming or substantially improve programming that is responsive to the specific transfer student population and shows evidence of success. Rising Stars use best practices and theoretical frameworks to design, implement, and assess their efforts and use resulting data to guide future work. They use their strong communication and collaboration skills to educate others about transfer students and are not afraid to challenge the status quo. Generally, these individuals have served in transfer-related roles for three to five years.
Jamie Blanch, Director of International and Transfer Admissions at Knox College
Nan Young Perez-Uribe, Transfer Coordinator at University of South Alabama
Heather Domonoske, Assistant Director, Transfer Center at California Polytechnical State University
Campbell M. Keele, Coordinator, Transfer Initiatives at Missouri State University
National Transfer Student Ambassadors
The Transfer Student Ambassador Program invites up to four outstanding transfer students to influence the national transfer conversation by sharing their voices at the NISTS annual conference. Winners are selected for their demonstrated excellence in leadership, public speaking skills, and potential for sharing meaningful information with transfer professionals at the local and national levels.
Ashton Husband, The University of Southern Mississippi
Crystal Ramos, Texas A&M University-San Antonio
Emily Hernandez Alzamora, University of Utah
Sam Haines, Rider University
Research Grant Winner
NISTS encourages transfer-related original research, creative, and scholarly work through the NISTS Research Grant. We award grants biannually, with 1-2 projects selected per competition.
Ivan Valdovinos, Ph.D. student, Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego and Project Director for TRIO Support Services at Wenatchee Valley College
Do you know an outstanding transfer advocate, researcher, or student who deserves to be recognized for their stellar work and contributions to the transfer field? Please let us know! Our nomination forms open each summer, and we can't wait to read your submissions. Full details are available on the annual awards webpage.