Public relations professor Jennifer Floto won USC's Mellon Mentoring Award for her dedication to USC Annenberg undergraduate students.
The awards "honor individual faculty for helping build a supportive academic environment at USC through faculty-to-student and faculty-to-faculty mentoring."
"Being a mentor means being what the student needs at that moment, whether it’s before a first job interview or a career change a decade later," Floto said. "It means being the one person your student can depend on for a reality check. And, the most important role is being there: available, interested, motivated and present. Because these are students we are sending out into the world. We’ve armed them with skills and pep talks but now they are going to be workers, contributors to society. And more than anything, they just need us to be straight with them."
Public Relations student Lindsey Berg nominated Floto for the award. She said she nominated Floto because of her dedication to each and every student and her passion for the PR program.
"She always keeps her door open to all students and is much more than just a professor," Berg said. "She is a mentor to every student and gives us all real-world advice about our careers, education and beyond. I don't know where I would be without having her as a mentor," Berg said. "The time she dedicates to her students and to Annenberg is incomparable." Last year, four USC Annenberg professors won the Mellon Award.
