Suzanne McCray Exemplary Service Award
The Suzanne McCray Exemplary Service Award was created in 2019 as part of the 20th anniversary of the founding NAFA. This award is named for one of our founding members who continues to serve the organization, often behind the scenes. It is awarded every two years at our conference to a member who, like Suzanne, has engaged in significant, ongoing service to the organization.
Suzanne McCray Exemplary Service Award Recipients
2023 Suzanne McCray Award Recipient
Dana Kuchem, she/her
Dana Kuchem is the Director of the Office of Scholars and Fellowships at the University of Richmond. She started in fellowship advising in 2005 at Ohio State University and has been an active NAFA member ever since.
She served on the NAFA Board of Directors (2011-2013) before being elected Vice President (2013-2015) and then serving as President (2015-2017) of the organization. After a brief hiatus, she was elected Treasurer in 2021. Throughout her time with NAFA, she revived the Survey of the Profession, planned the 8th Biennial Conference in the Bay Area, served on numerous planning committees for summer workshops and regional collaboration grant events, co-edited the NAFA Proceedings: Bridging the Gap, and led NAFA’s first foray into financial investments.
Over her career, Dana was selected for a Fulbright IEA Grant to Germany (2011), won Ohio State’s Outstanding Advisor Award (2013), serves on the leadership board for Richmond’s LGBTQ+ Faculty/Staff Affinity Group UR Proud, and became the inaugural director of the Office of Scholars and Fellowships at the University of Richmond, where she also directs the Richmond Scholars merit program.
2021 Suzanne McCray Award Recipient
Alicia Hayes, she/hers
Alicia Hayes is the Associate Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarships at the University of California, Berkeley, where she started in 2001 as a fellowship advisor and began to be deeply involved in NAFA from the start.
She was elected to the NAFA Board of Directors in 2009 and served two terms as NAFA Secretary. As chair of the membership committee, she focused on increasing diversity in NAFA and led outreach efforts to HBCU’s, bringing those institutions to NAFA for the first time in 2011.
Over the years, Alicia served on various NAFA committees, including membership, conference planning, best practices, consultation and assessment, nominations and elections, and ad hoc committees. She hosted the 2015 Biennial Conference, co-hosted a New Advisors summer workshop, co-hosted a NAFA Region 14 regional meeting, and led various conference sessions. However, the opportunity to engage and mentor fellow NAFAns gives her the most fulfillment.
On her campus, Alicia was co-chair of the Advising Network Community, co-chair of the campuswide staff recognition event Summerfest, and is a Black Faculty and Staff Organization member. She was recognized for her contributions to the campus community as a recipient of the Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award in 2010 and 2022. Alicia is most passionate about student-centered advising and making educational enrichment opportunities more accessible to every student she encounters.
2019 Suzanne McCray Inaugural Award Recipient
Suzanne McCray, she/hers
Suzanne McCray is the vice provost for enrollment management and dean of admissions and nationally competitive awards at the University of Arkansas. She is also an associate professor of higher education in the College of Education and Health Professions. McCray is an active member of the National Association of Fellowships Advisors, serving as its president from 2003-2005. She has edited or co-edited nine volumes of essays on the topic of nationally competitive scholarships published by the University of Arkansas Press including Wild about Harry: Everything You Have Ever Wanted to Know about the Truman Scholarship (2021) and Saving the World in Five Hundred Words: Perspective on Nationally Competitive Awards (2024). She has served on scholarship review committees for the Coca-Cola Scholarship, the Stewart L. and Morris K. Udall Scholarship, the Horatio Alger Scholarship, and for the Critical Language Scholarship. She received the 2012 Associated Student Government Faculty of the Year Award and the 2017 Honors College Distinguished Leadership Award, and in 2019 she received the inaugural service award from the National Association of Fellowships Advisors. She is currently serving as chair of College Board’s national Academic Assembly Council and is a member of its Board of Trustees. She earned a B.A. and an M.A. in English from the University of Arkansas, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Tennessee.