Lindsay Steiner receives Eagle Excellence in Academic Advising Award

Posted 7:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 9, 2024

Lindsay Steiner receives Eagle Excellence in Academic Advising Award

UW-La Crosse faculty are known for inspiring students inside the classroom. But their actual impact extends much further.

Many UWL faculty also serve as academic advisors. They help students plan and pursue their educational goals, setting them up for success in their lives and careers.

To celebrate academic advisors and the critical but often unseen work they do on campus, UWL created the Eagle Excellence in Academic Advising Award in 2020. This year's recipient isLindsay Steiner, associate professor of English.

As she prepares for another year, Steiner took a moment to discuss the connection between teaching and advising, the path that led her to UWL and how her own experiences as a college student have made her a better advisor.

Lindsay Steiner, English

Began at UWL: 2013

Courses: I teach primarily professional and technical writing courses. This fall, I will teach two sections of ENG 310: Digital Content Writing, Strategy, and Experience Design. I've taught many other writing classes at UWL, such as first-year writing, Technical Writing (ENG 308), Writing for Management, Public Relations, and the Professions (ENG 307), Intro to Professional and Technical Writing (ENG 335), Grant Writing (ENG 314), and others.

Advising responsibilities: The number of advisees can vary depending on the semester. Since 2018, I have had an average of 28 advisees each semester. In many ways, advising is an extension of teaching and allows for mentoring to occur so that students feel confident in their preparation for any number of next steps in their lives. This might include helping a student explore careers and internships, connecting a student to another resource on campus, collaborating with colleagues to help a student (shout-out to the amazing Britta Osborne, the academic services director in CASSH), and more. Often, advising starts with open-ended questions from me so that I can understand what the student needs and how I can assist.

Background: I moved to La Crosse after finishing my Ph.D. at Kent State University in Ohio. I'm from northwest Ohio originally, and studied visual communication at Ohio University, followed by work as a newspaper photojournalist. I eventually pivoted to an academic career, where I developed a passion for teaching.

Favorite part of advising: When a student comes to me for assistance with something that is particularly challenging for them - perhaps an uncertainty related to their work at an internship or how to market themselves for a career after graduation - I am always happy when I am able to help a student work through something they originally thought was either impossible or too overwhelming to handle. I try to encourage my students to feel comfortable asking for help. As a student, I often tried to do things on my own and avoid asking for assistance because I thought that would indicate to others that I couldn't do the work. I realized that I could deepen my learning by meeting with my professors and advisors regularly, and that asking for help is not a weakness, but is an indication of wanting to learn and grow. Whether a student comes to me with a carefully constructed list of advising questions or simply sits down and says, "I don't know what to do", my response is the same: "Let's figure it out!"

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