The 2011 - 2012 Advisor of the Year is Professor Katherine Rahman, who holds an appointment in the Government department and is the Associate Director of the International Relations program and currently serves as the Director of Advising for International Relations.
Dr. Rahman has been a part of the faculty at William and Mary since 1989. Her PhD is in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. Her research areas of interest include international law and the international system. She served as the Director of the W&M in Washington Program when the program was first established. She was instrumental in redesigning the International Relations major and has been advising IR majors ever since. She particularly enjoys the opportunity to meet prospective students and their parents, and to discuss the benefits of being a W&M student.
"I get tremendous pleasure from meeting and helping W&M students. They lead such interesting lives, and bring such a wide range of ideas and experiences to College with them. The opportunity to assist them to turn big plans into specific program and course choices is a real privilege. Our students tend to be overachievers, seeking to try and do it all. Sometimes the reality check can be a bit sobering. But discovering a bad idea is as important as finding an appropriate path. It helps students become responsible for their own education. They need to become familiar with the range of options and services available to them. It is important to make careful choices about courses. Equally, though, it is critical to find ways to explore learning outside the classroom. We are fortunate to have a vast global education structure at W&M, allowing students to study almost any topic in almost any part of the world. At the end of the day, my job is to listen carefully, to provide information and options, and then to sit back and watch capable young men and women piece together a program as individual as they are. And when things don't go quite to plan, I'm here to help, to listen again, and to put things together again."