Skip to main content
University of Nebraska Omaha logo University of Nebraska Omaha
APPLY MY UNO DIRECTORY

University of Nebraska Omaha logo
Academic Affairs
APPLY MY UNO DIRECTORY
  • About Us Backback to Main menu
    • Meet our Team
    • Academic Affairs Mission and Goals
    • Accreditation
    • Colleges
    • Centers and Institutes
    • Research and Creative Activity
    • Licensure
    • Communications
  • Curriculum & Programs Backback to Main menu
    • Course Development
    • Program and Unit Development
    • Course, Laboratory, Miscellaneous Fee Proposals
    • Education Policy Advisory Committee
    • General Education and Dual Enrollment
  • Assessment & Review Backback to Main menu
    • Student Learning Outcomes
    • Assessment Committee
    • Assessment Resources
    • Academic Program Review
    • Academic Planning Council
    • General Education Assessment
  • Faculty Life and Retention Backback to Main menu
    • Center for Faculty Excellence
    • Faculty Senate
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Documents and Resources
    • Faculty Development Fellowships
    • Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Guidelines
    • Faculty Credentials
    • Faculty Workload Policy
    • Collective Bargaining Agreement
    • American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
  • Honors & Awards Backback to Main menu
    • President's Excellence Awards
    • Chancellor's Honors and Awards
    • Faculty Awards
    • Staff Awards
    • Student Honors Convocation
    • UNO Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi
  • Engagement Backback to Main menu
    • Global Engagement
    • Community Engagement
    • Academic Communities
    • Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships

Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award

  1. UNO
  2. Academic Affairs
  3. Honors & Awards
  4. Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award

  • Related Resources

  • Excellence in Teaching Award
  • Distinguished Research or Creative Activity Award
  • Faculty Excellence in Engagement Award
  • Faculty Service Learning Award
  • Excellence in Part-Time Teaching Award
  • Additional Resources

  • Faculty Awards
  • Staff Awards

Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award

Kay A. Keiser, Ed.D., 2022 Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award Recipient.

Chancellor Joanne Li, left, Kay A. Keiser, Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award, Interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Deb Smith-Howell, and Dean Nancy Edick.

Chancellor Joanne Li (left), Kay A. Keiser, Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award recipient, Interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Deborah Smith-Howell, and Dean Nancy Edick.

Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award

The Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award, presented by the Office of Graduate Studies, was created to recognize individual faculty who place high values on and excel in mentoring graduate students. Recipients must have an established record of teaching excellence at the graduate level and mentoring students who have received their degrees. They also should excel at attracting graduate students to study at UNO through recruitment efforts and a visible and respected academic reputation in their area of expertise.


kay-keiser-graduate-award-2022.jpg

Kay A. Keiser, Ed.D

Department of Educational Leadership
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences

Kay A. Keiser, Ed.D, is associate professor and former chair of the Department of Educational Leadership. She teaches and researches in educational leadership and school administration. She serves as Graduate Program Chair for the master’s and doctoral program in educational administration. In 2014, she received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the UNO College of Education. She is the coauthor of Prepare to Chair: Leading the Dissertation and Thesis Process and coeditor of Women in Educational Leadership: A Practitioner’s Handbook. Keiser has served as dissertation chair for 57 Ed.D. graduates and on over 100 other doctoral committees. She earned her BS in elementary education, MS in literacy, and Ed.D. in educational administration at UNO. She worked as teacher and administrator in the Omaha Public Schools for 25 years and is recipient of the Alice Buffett Outstanding Teaching Award.

Dr. Keiser has been a faculty leader at UNO for over 16 years and in that time has had a transformational impact on students’ academic development in Educational Leadership. She served as department chair of this graduate unit for 6 years and has fostered a culture that puts mentorship as a central goal. As her nominator notes, “Dr. Keiser has shaped a departmental model that is highly adaptive to individual graduate student needs and encourages the kind of dissertation research from our doctoral students that will have lasting social impact.” Moreover, Dr. Keiser has helped refine the mentorship process for the field, co-authoring a book on how to effectively guide students through the dissertation process. This work in part helped to earn her the 2014 UNO Alumni Excellence in Teaching Award for the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. For these and many other reasons, we are proud to honor Dr. Keiser with this award for excellence in graduate mentorship.


Nomination Information

Review the detailed nomination criteria and download the nomination form

Nomination deadline: March 1


Previous Award Winners

Year Recipient Department/School
2021 Julie Blaskewicz Boron Gerontology
2020 Brian McKevitt Psychology
2019 Dustin Slivka Health and Kinesiology
2018 Daniel Hawkins Sociology
2017 Dhundy Bastola Interdisciplinary Informatics
2016 Ann Fruhling Interdisciplinary Informatics
2015 Jeffrey French Psychology
2014 Sajda Qureshi Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis

View the full list of award recipients

Contact Us

  • Academic Affairs
  • Phone: 402.554.2262
  • Email: academic.affairs@unomaha.edu

Related Resources

  • Excellence in Teaching Award
  • Distinguished Research or Creative Activity Award
  • Faculty Excellence in Engagement Award
  • Faculty Service Learning Award
  • Excellence in Part-Time Teaching Award

Additional Resources

  • Faculty Awards
  • Staff Awards

Academic Affairs

  • CONTACT US
  • Academic Affairs
  • 202 Eppley Administration Building
  • 6001 Dodge Street
  • Omaha, NE 68182  map this location
  • 402.554.2262
  • academic.affairs@unomaha.edu
  • RESOURCES
  • For Faculty and Staff
  • Center for Faculty Excellence
  • Service Learning Academy
  • Information Technology Services
  • Catalogs
  • Academic Calendar
  • Next Steps
  • Visit UNO
  • Request Information
  • Apply for Admission
  • The UNO Advantage
  • Our City (Omaha)
  • Just For You
  • Future Students
  • Current Students
  • Work at UNO
  • Faculty and Staff
  • A-Z List
  • Popular Services and Resources
  • my.unomaha.edu
  • Academic Calendar
  • Campus Buildings & Maps
  • Library
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Course Catalogs
  • Internships & Career Development
  • Bookstore
  • MavCARD Services
  • Military-Connected Resource Center
  • Speech Center
  • Writing Center
  • Human Resources
  • Center for Faculty Excellence
  • Affiliates
  • University of Nebraska System
  • NU Foundation
  • Buffett Early Childhood Institute
  • Daugherty Water for Food Institute
  • National Strategic Research Institute
  • Peter Kiewit Institute
  • Rural Prosperity Nebraska
  1. University Policies
  2. Privacy Statement
  3. Accessibility
  1. 402.554.2800

University of Nebraska Omaha
University of Nebraska Omaha, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68182
  • © 2023  
  • Emergency Information Alert
  • Report an Incident or Concern

Omaha Skyline

Our Campus. Otherwise Known as Omaha.

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation in its education programs or activities, including admissions and employment. The University prohibits any form of retaliation taken against anyone for reporting discrimination, harassment, or retaliation for otherwise engaging in protected activity. Read the full statement.

scroll to top of page