Congratulations to Michaelann Nelson, Recipient of the English Faculty Mentoring Award
Associate Professor Michaelann Nelson is one of the two 2025 English Faculty Mentoring Award recipients. Our English Faculty Mentoring Award was established by generous donors who themselves benefited from the encouragement of supportive faculty at pivotal moments of their undergraduate careers. This $2,500 award recognizes English Department faculty who have gone above and beyond in mentoring students.
In addition to her duties as a professor, Michaelann is the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society Statewide Chapter Advisor and the director of the USU Eastern campus Writing Center. “Mentoring is truly my favorite aspect of this job,” Michaelann says. “To watch the world open up to students is an incredible experience and what keeps me investing so much time and energy in them.”
Michaelann joined the faculty in 2016 and started the Price Sigma Tau Delta chapter to bring more opportunities and community to English majors. She has organized events for the students in the chapter, including trivia nights, book clubs, and author readings, but she especially enjoys taking students to the annual international conference. After serving as the advisor for Price students, she extended the Sigma Tau Delta chapter statewide in 2022 to give all students, regardless of location, the same opportunities. “Oftentimes, a statewide English major may be the only one on their campus or be part of a very small cohort,” Michaelann comments. “The opportunity to connect with over 1,000 English majors across the country and learn about many different topics that may not be available to them on their campus is truly transformational for these students.” Michaelann’s commitment to Sigma Tau Delta students is being recognized internationally too; this year, she served as the Far West Regent and is the 2026 Convention Chair.
Over eight Sigma Tau Delta international conventions, Michaelann has mentored 22 student projects and taken 23 students across state lines to participate in workshops, readings, and professional development opportunities. Part of this has meant securing over $40,000 in funding for students to attend, coordinating with the Logan campus chapter for conference travel and activities, and meeting with students to ready their submissions in order to get accepted to the convention. Dakota Mecham, current Sigma Tau Delta President and English Teaching major on Vernal campus, says, “In my studies and experiences with professors at USU, Dr. Nelson is unmatched in the support I have received. Without the scholarships she has sent me to apply for, opportunities for student research grants, or participation in the Sigma Tau Delta honors society, I would not have made it through my time during college. As my mentor, Dr. Nelson has inspired me to explore every option available to me in my education and then some.”
After starting her role as the Price campus Writing Center Director in 2017, Michaelann has mentored nine students, instituted a more rigorous tutor training program, helped tutors attend Rocky Mountain Writing Center Association conferences, and practiced teaching skills with the tutors. Graduate student mentee, Janelle Bates, earned a CHaSS Faculty-Student Summer Mentorship Grant in 2023 to research writing center location. The two presented their findings at the International Writing Center Association conference in October 2023 in the presentation, “Writing Center Real Estate: How Location Affects Student Use.” Janelle says, “Michaelann has been the most important and impactful mentor in my life. We worked together for over three years, and during that time, I felt very supported and cared for as a tutor and student. I learned so much from her—not just about literature or tutoring, but about allowing others to be themselves, to love unconditionally, and how much it means to have someone on your side rooting for you.”
For all of her students, Michaelann looks for opportunities for mentorship in the classroom. For example, 2024 ChaSS Valedictorian Preston Waddoups took her 20th Century British Literature course in Fall 2021. She encouraged him to submit his final essay for the course to the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research, and after it was accepted, she mentored his nine research presentations over his undergraduate career, worked with him through a CHaSS Faculty-Student Summer Mentorship Grant and a Peak Fellowship, and was his faculty escort for Commencement. Preston says, “I am especially grateful for her generosity with her time and her ability to offer critical feedback in a manner that encourages further development of the student’s own perspective. Having Dr. Nelson as a mentor dramatically changed the course of my college experience for the better.”
On receiving the 2025 English Faculty Mentor Award, Michaelann comments, "I've been a Sigma Tau Delta advisor for ten years. At one point in the early days, I was baking 400 cookies in a tiny kitchen for a fundraiser and spending hours to find funding to take students to the annual conference. Every year, it seemed, there was one student who had never been on a plane, and it has been so rewarding to not only facilitate these research opportunities, but to also be able to expand the worldviews of students through cultural opportunities and travel. I would do it no matter what, but it is so nice to have all of the sacrifices and short nights recognized by my peers."
The English Department is deeply grateful to the donors who have made this award possible and to all the many friends and alumni who encourage the wonderful work of our faculty and students.