Bombarded with e-mails, phone calls, and impromptu office visits, Donna Reese stays busy advising over 100 students-but those are only the official ones.
“They call me Momma Donna,” Reese said.
As the undergraduate coordinator for the computer science and engineering department, Reese oversees all students in the department. For her 12 years of dedication to her students, the university academic advising center named her the 2004 Outstanding Academic Adviser.
“She’s just got a history of being an outstanding adviser,” said Wes Ammon, an academic adviser from the center. “Mostly, student recommendations pushed her over the top.”
The center sent out fliers asking for nominations for advisers in October. Once the nominations were in, an independent review board selected Reese. Reese has received four certificates of merit since 1997.
Reese said she was honored to be chosen because the students play a role in the selection.
“It’s special because the students you are trying to help have expressed their thanks,” Reese said.
She has many advisees, performs degree checks and answers questions from other advisers because of her position, but Reese said she enjoys her extra responsibilities.
“I just like working with the students,” Reese said.
Reese’s desk is lined with few stacks of papers and books, candles, family photos. One photo in particular shows Reese at Disney World wearing a Tigger shirt and standing next to Tigger, a character she’s loved since childhood.
Also on Reese’s desk are gifts she has received from students.
“They bring me my toys for my desk,” Reese said as she pointed to the array of toys-a Magic 8 ball, a lighted pompom, Shell T-shirts and a tribble from the original Star Trek.
Reese has two sons-Bryan, a freshman at State, and Brandon, a sophomore at Starkville Academy.
“I’m a classic soccer mom,” Reese said.
Reese spends most of her time helping her students and advisees. She describes her philosophy of advising as an open-minded method of getting to know her students and what works best for them as individuals.
“You can’t advise all students the same way,” Reese said. “You need to ultimately make them realize that they are responsible for themselves. You can make suggestions.”
Reese attributes her ability to adapt to each student from her background. Her father was in the armed forces and Reese moved often during her childhood.
“It gives you a broader perspective. You have the ability to make new friends real quickly. Not everyone comes from the same background you’re used to,” Reese explained.
Though her mother and father were from Louisiana, Reese said she grew up “all over,” including Germany, where she lived for two years. Reese, however, graduated high school in Maryland.
Reese received her doctorate from Texas A&M. After she taught a year at the University of Texas, she came to MSU. She began advising after her third year.
Reese likes most “the interaction with students and seeing them grow as they go throughout their academic career and seeing them take ownership of their lives.”
“Sometimes you get the most reward out of the students that are the most challenging,” Reese said. “It’s those that you work with and argue with. I had an advisee that I fought with about which classes to take every time he was here. At commencement, I met his parents, and his mother said, ‘Oh, you’re Dr. Reese.'”
The mother said the son had told his parents how much Reese had helped him.
Besides advising, Reese teaches Distributed Client/Server Programming, Operating Systems 1 and 2, Complier Construction and Designing Parallel Algorithms.
“Dr. Reese has won this award because of her willingness to help students and her desire to see them succeed at Mississippi State,” said Hunter Jones, who is both a student of Reese’s and an advisee.
Jones said he was worried when he first came to State because he came from a small high school and was not sure what to expect from the university.
“She invited me into her office and explained to me that I would make it through. She was right,” Jones said.
“She’s special because she does more than write out what the handbook says her students should be taking,” Jones said. “Her advisings are personal and tailored for the individual with whom she is working.”
Reese said she often receives notes and e-mails from former students and advisees thanking her for her help.
“I have lots of little notes like that,” Reese said. “I’d like to feel like I’ve helped students-not just learn stuff in my classes-but life-long learning.”
As Outstanding Adviser, Reese must prepare her packet for the National Academic Advising competition. She must compile letters and notes from her advisees by the March 8 deadline.