Jack Cranford receives national advising award

Jack Cranford, associate professor and assistant head of the Department of Biological Sciences in Virginia Tech's College of Science, has been awarded the National Academic Advising Association’s (NACADA) Certificate of Merit for Faculty Academic Advising.

NACADA’s awards committee recognized Cranford for his demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding advising of students and outstanding administration of the department’s undergraduate advising program.

“Jack is known for quickly identifying students with learning disabilities or other disadvantages and working with them not only to help them understand the material in his class, but to get them the help they need on campus to succeed in college,” said Robert Jones, department head. “His dedication to our students continues to amaze me.”

Cranford has been conducting mammalian biology research, teaching, and advising at Virginia Tech since 1977. As an adviser, he has gained the respect and admiration of students and faculty alike. He spends hours outside his regular office hours helping students find their way through academia and into their most suitable careers.

“Advising is perhaps the highest duty under our motto: Ut Prosim/ (That I May Serve),” Cranford said. Cranford also received the university’s 2004 Alumni Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Academic Advising and will chair the university’s Academy of Advising Excellence for 2005-2006.

A native of San Mateo, Calif., Cranford received a bachelor’s and a master's from San Francisco State College and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. He holds life memberships in the American Society of Mammalogists, Sigma Xi, the Ecological Society of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion, and has held membership in the International Hibernation Society, the British Ecological Society, the National Geographic Society, and the Virginia Academy of Science.