Nathaniel Graves honored with national award for excellence in parent & family programs
Nathaniel Graves of Washington and Lee University (W&L) is a nationally recognized first-year student. Graves has been honored with an award of high prestige by the National Association for Higher Education Parent & Family Professionals (NAHEPFP). This prize highlights Graves’s excellent performance as Associate Dean of Student Support and Director of Orientation and First-Year Experience at Denison University during the 2024-25 academic year. He directly managed the support of newly admitted students and their parents through the adaptations to university life process; thus, the award to him is an outstanding signal of recognition of his efforts to student and family engagement in college education.
Graves came from W&L recently and with that award-winning commitment he can surely delight them there. Awarding the NAHEPFP honor to the recipient is not an easy task. It pays attention to those who establish harmonious ties not only between the educational institutions but also the families of students, thus assuring the orientation and the first year are friendly, welcoming, and productive. Even if the association keeps the details of the criteria confidential this commendation obviously points out Graves’s capacity to impact student’s life in their academic journey.
At W&L, Graves will probably use the wisdom of his past experience to invent fresh ideas for orientation and support services to be offered to new students and families. His election is an indication of acknowledgment that is being done in the time when the universities are realizing the necessity of the support systems that provide guidance not only to the academic but also to the emotional, social, and logistical needs of the students. By rewarding Nathaniel Graves, NAHEPFP is indicating that W&L has brought on board someone with rich experience who can deliver her/his promise of student success and family engagement.
Moreover, the accomplishment throws a beam on the changes that are taking place in higher education sector: colleges and universities are broadening their views of student support to include family engagement. Typically, a first-year experience program that is benefited from such leadership can hardly be underestimated as to its impact on students’ smooth college life adaptation, sense of belonging, and long-term academic success.
Nathaniel Graves’s award, in a nutshell, refers to his personal commitment and also a rising trend across campuses towards comprehensive student support. To W&L, his coming and award is tantamount to a new beginning for students and their families providing them with a solid basis for their upcoming journey.