STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Judith Tanur, a Distinguished Teaching Professor from the Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University , has been selected by the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools as the 2005-2006 winner of the Geoffrey Marshall Mentoring Award.

The Marshall Award, named in memory of Geoffrey Marshall, past president of NAGS, recognizes teachers and scholars for exceptional guidance of graduate students toward a high degree of professional accomplishment. Every year, all member institutions of NAGS submit nominations and more than 100 schools in USA and Canada compete for this acclaimed Award.

The award given for her “instrumental support to graduate students from course completion through research and placement” was presented at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools in Portsmouth , New Hampshire on Friday, April 7. Dr. Tanur has been involved with mentoring students since 1967. As she states, “Mentoring and teaching are essentially different as the former is more one-on-one and the mentor can focus more on each student. This periodic communication results in close bonding between the two with both working mutually towards the student's continued progress. Mentoring becomes easy as the students have the drive to excel and don't need constant motivation to be on track.” When asked to share one piece of advice with all graduate students, Professor Tanur remarked, ‘Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration'.