Isaac Kramnick, vice provost for undergraduate education at Cornell University, recently announced the 2005 winners of the Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Awards. The awards were established by Stephen Ashley, a member of the board of trustees, to honor his former adviser, Kendall S. Carpenter, a professor of business management in what is now the Department of Applied Economics and Management, from 1954 until his death at the age of 50 in 1967.

The $5,000 awards recognize "sustained and distinguished contributions of professorial faculty and senior lecturers to undergraduate advising," and nominations were accepted from individual students, university staff, college deans and associate deans and department chairs.

The recipients for 2005 are:

• Janice Brown, Department of Food Science.
• Gary Evans, Department of Design and Environmental Analysis.
• Mary Katzenstein, Department of Government.
• Mary Sansalone, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Recipients will be honored next spring at a trustee-faculty dinner recognizing the winners of universitywide teaching and advising awards.

Janice Brown, the coordinator of undergraduate advising in the Department of Food Science, has spent more than two decades teaching, advising, counseling and being a forceful and strong advocate for College of Agriculture and Life Sciences undergraduates in general and food science students in particular. As one of her students points out, "she is well known and loved throughout the Cornell community."

In the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis, Gary Evans is thought of as someone who goes beyond what is typically thought of as an adviser and is viewed as someone who is truly a mentor to his students. One of them points out that she "cannot think of a particular moment or class where Gary stands out ... because he has become such an integral part of my learning experience at Cornell that I cannot remember a time when he has not had an impact on my life."

Mary Katzenstein has spent more than 30 years in the Department of Government, where she has been beloved by generations of Cornellians. David DeVries, associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Arts and Sciences, comments, "Over and over I have heard graduating seniors enthuse about their honors projects, their independent studies, their research with Professor Katzenstein. Through example and precept, patient advising and teaching, she has ushered hosts of students through the often challenging process of becoming scholars themselves."

"Professor Mary Sansalone has been the most knowledgeable and helpful adviser I have ever had at Cornell University," enthuses one of her students in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Many others commented on the exceptional amount of selfless dedication she has for her students. "In a group of exceptional advisers, Mary stands out," says William Philpot, associate director of the school.

Also this year, the committee made a program award to Rich Robbins, director of engineering advising, for funds to implement an electronic tracking and Web-based evaluation system in the engineering advising office.

Ashley, who graduated from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1962, received his master's degree in business administration from the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1964. He is chairman and chief executive officer of the Ashley Group, a family of related companies focused on management, brokerage, financing and investment in commercial and multifamily real estate. He was elected as a Cornell trustee in 1998. Ashley and his wife, Janice, have been named Cornell Foremost Benefactors, and in 1991 they established the Stephen B. and Janice Ashley Graduate Fellowship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.