Administrator receives Outstanding First-Year Advocate award for Loyola’s Messina program

Mary Ellen Wade, associate director of Messina, won the Outstanding First-Year Advocate award from the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and Cengage.

Wade, who started working at Loyola in 2008, has helped expand the University’s first-year Messina program. She leads enrichment sessions, encourages campus and community engagement, and offers individual support to students. Since taking on the role of associate director of Messina in 2013, she has led initiatives to help grow the program to one in which all first-year students enrolled.

“Mary Ellen has helped transform Messina into a universal living-learning program that is part of the fabric of the Loyola University Maryland student experience,” said Michael Puma, student development co-director of Messina. “This award shows that colleagues across the nation recognize the work that we are doing at Loyola.”

Wade will be honored at the 39th Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience in Washington, D.C., which will be held on Feb. 21-24, 2020. All conference fees are waived for Wade, and she will be recognized in the Chronicle of Higher Education, as well as through the National Resource Center’s online newsletter and webpage.

“This award captures the intentional planning and creative vision that went into forming a transformative first-year student experience here at Loyola,” said Wade. “It will allow me to have more opportunities to continue to showcase the dedicated work of our faculty, administrators, Evergreens, and resident assistants in a national spotlight.”

The National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition with co-sponsorship with Cengage selects two nominated individuals from designated institutional categories. Loyola University Maryland is classified under the four-year colleges and universities with 2,000 to 7,000 students. The award recipients demonstrate exceptional work in student learning, development, and success.