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PLANC AWARDS
The PLANC awards are a source of immense pride for our professional association. Each year, we take great joy in honoring our dedicated colleagues through the PLANC awards. These awards recognize individuals for their outstanding contributions to our profession and their commitment to excellence in all aspects of their professional lives.
Dean Gerald Lee Wilson Award for Excellence in
Pre-Law Advising
The Dean Gerald Lee Wilson Award for Excellence in Pre-Law Advising recognizes an individual who has made significant and sustained contributions to the pre-law advising community at the national or regional level. In the spirit of the great legacy of the award’s namesake, this award is intended to recognize service beyond that provided to an individual’s institution or prospective law students. This award recognizes service to the whole of the pre-law community. As such, while service to PLANC is certainly pertinent, other national-level service to the pre-law community is also worthy of recognition.
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Dean Gerald L. Wilson is a founding member of PLANC and was elected its first chair in 1984. As the person who compiled and edited the Handbook for Pre-Law Advisors, he is widely recognized as the preeminent pre-law advisor in the nation. He has been the pre-law advisor at Duke University for four decades. The first recipient of the Dean Gerald Lee Wilson Award was announced at the 2012 PLANC National Conference in Washington, DC. The award is given annually.
Emerging Leader Award
The Pre-Law Advisors National Council’s (PLANC) annual Emerging Leader Award recognizes newer advisors who have made a significant contribution to and impact on the pre-law advising community beyond their institution and have demonstrated the potential for leadership and continuing service at a national level.
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Congratulations to the inaugural 2024 award recipient
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Meg Pickens,
Director of Pre-Law Advising Services,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.​
Wilson Award Recipients
Kevin Freeman
2024
Program Director, Pre-Law Services,
The Ohio State University
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Ana Alvarez
2022
Assistant Director, Institute for Law and Public Affairs and Pre-Law Advisor at University of Texas at San Antonio
Brother Glenn Bolton
2020
Pre-Law Advisor,
Saint Mary’s College of California
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Wendy Vonnegut
2019
Associate Professor & Director of Legal Studies,
Methodist University
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Heather Struck
2017
Assistant Dean and Pre-Law Advisor,
Cornell University
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Mel Hailey
2015
Professor of Political Science, Abilene Christian University
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Jerry Polinard
2013
Professor of Political Science, University of Texas-Pan American
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Don Racheter
2023
Lecturer and Mock Trial Coach, Brian Lamb School of Communications at Purdue University
RJ Holmes-Leopold
2021
Director, Career Center,
Carleton College
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Gwyn Wallander
2020
Senior Student Services Coordinator and Pre-Law Advisor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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Frank Guliuzza
2018
Professor of Government and Dean of Academic Affairs,
Patrick Henry College
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Karen Severn
2016
Assistant Director, Office of Professional School Advising,
Texas A&M University
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Jim L. Riley
2014
Professor Emeritus of Politics,
Regis University
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Anne Brandt
2012
Executive Director,
LSAC
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