The Dietrich School would like to congratulate our 2026 Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising winners!
The Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising is an annual award that recognizes outstanding faculty and staff academic advising for undergraduate students. The awardees receive a one-time cash prize of $4,000. This year’s winners are:
Lauren Franczak — Academic Advising Center
"Lauren exemplifies quiet leadership in the Advising Center; she has managed the Advising Center Peer Advisor group in the past and continues to participate in the training and coaching of the peer advisors. She helps to train new professional academic advisors through the new advisor training program offered in the Center and is a continuous source of guidance and support for her colleagues. Lauren exhibits dedication to her students and wants to ensure they have a positive advising experience and are well prepared for their future at Pitt. She is respectful and kind in her approach and actively listens to her students. She is quick to respond to their questions and concerns and works to direct students to appropriate resources when necessary. She takes a developmental advising approach in her interaction with students, taking the time to ask questions about her students, their wellbeing, classes, and academic plans."
Na-Rae Han — Department of Linguistics
"Dr. Na-Rae Han has made an undeniable contribution to our student community, going well beyond the already vital service that undergraduate advisors provide to their student advisees. She has championed our students’ interest in language technologies and worked diligently to provide students with opportunities to learn about data science and computational methods, which students are then able to apply across programs throughout the Dietrich School, the University (e.g., SCI), and beyond, and her vital support does not end at graduation, as attested in the effusive letters from graduates Eva Bacas and Samantha Allen. Based on the support she provides across programs and schools, during undergraduate study and beyond, and her leveraging of data and computational skills to help students gain placement in competitive graduate programs and industry positions, Dr. Na-Rae Han more than meets the spirit of the Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising and has been seminal in helping the Department of Linguistics achieve its goals in becoming a more data-driven and computationally minded unit."
