Simons, Wright win Marquand Award

Daniel J. Simons, Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, and Lionel Hall proctor Susan Wright received the first annual John H. Marquand Awards for exceptional advising and counseling at a reception Monday evening (Nov. 5). The prize, awarded to one faculty member and one nonfaculty adviser, honors legendary Dudley House senior tutor John H. Marquand.

Marquand was “a very important figure in the lives of everyone who came through Dudley House,” said Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68. After Marquand died of cancer in 1991, Robert Aranow ’77 led a group of alumni in raising money to create a prize in his name.

Last spring, the Undergraduate Council (UC) solicited nominations for the prize, which gives each winner $1,500. Although the UC received hundreds of nominations, “there was no mistake that we selected the best candidates,” said Rohit Chopra ’04, chair of the UC student affairs committee. Wright was nominated many times by students who detailed the significant impact her advising had on their lives at Harvard College. “‘Respect’ was a word that kept coming up,” said Chopra. “She really pushed people to explore what they love.” Simons was cited for his “contagious enthusiasm for research and psychology,” Chopra added.

At the awards reception in Boylston Hall’s Ticknor Lounge, both Lewis and President Lawrence H. Summers acknowledged the importance of advising undergraduates and the need to increase its priority to the College. “I’m very pleased to have some attention focused on the people who do it well,” said Lewis.