The Wassenich Award celebrates faculty and staff mentoring and leading within the TCU community. 

The award began in 1999 in honor of university alumni Linda and Mark Wassenich who created the fund to honor faculty and staff who have made mentoring an everyday part of their lives, according to the award's website.

"When you have been teaching that many years and trying doing the right thing, it's one of the greatest things to be nominated," Ken Morgan, founder of the university energy club and 2011 recipient said. "Winning was just a nice thing."

Morgan is the chairman of the award selection committee this year.

All nominees are notified of their nominations and are honored no matter who wins the award. Morgan said the nominations go through many steps and multiple discussions because everyone nominated is worthy of the award. 

The selection committee comprises of faculty, students and past winners. They narrow the nominees to four or five, then the chancellor makes the final decision.

"It touches me that students were involved in every step of the process," Nadia Lahutsky, the 2005 Wassenich Award recipient and university religion professor,said.

Barbara Herman, the associate vice chancellor of Student Services, said the university is special because of the relationships students are able to have with faculty and staff and the mentoring students receive from people at the university. 

Herman said she worked with the Wassenichs to help make the award possible.

All finalists are recognized at fall convocation and receive a cash award. The recipient of the Wassenich Award is introduced and awarded a larger amount. The Wassenichs attend the convocation and have a luncheon with the winner every year. 

"We thought it was very important that the nominations come from students and alumni who speak about their personal experiences with faculty and staff," Herman said.

The nominations window closes March 11. 

To see more information and to nominate a faculty or staff member for the Wassenich Award, go to http://www.wassenich.tcu.edu/