ALL-TIME FACULTY MENTOR AWARD WINNERS

Buddington is the Second Faculty Member at Franklin Pierce to Win Honor in Past Three Years.

MANSFIELD, Mass. – The Northeast-10 Conference put a bow on 2021-22 on Thursday night, as the league hosted its annual awards show, which was once again held in a virtual format. It was a banner night for the Franklin Pierce University Department of Athletics, as the Ravens took home two of the NE10's five major awards, including Dr. Leslie Buddington earning the Dr. Dave Landers Faculty Mentor Award. 

For her part, Dr. Buddington became the second Franklin Pierce faculty member in three years to take home the Faculty Mentor Award, which was established in 2017. Per the NE10, "the Dr. Dave Landers Faculty Mentor Award recognizes a faculty member from a conference institution who has supported the efforts of student-athletes in achieving their academic goals." The award was created by the NE10 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and is named after the longtime professor and faculty athletic representative at Saint Michael's. The award is voted on by a committee made up of NE10 SAAC members.

Dr. Buddington is the second Franklin Pierce faculty member to win the award, joining Dr. Laura Christoph, who was honored in 2020. Franklin Pierce's pair of honorees is second to only Saint Michael's, which won the first three editions of the award.

An Assistant Professor of Social and Developmental Psychology, Dr. Buddington serves as faculty mentor to Franklin Pierce's football team. When Franklin Pierce's institutional SAAC highlighted a need for mental health education and resources coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Buddington helped spearhead a Faculty/Coach Mental Health Panel in fall of 2021, where various University faculty/staff members spoke openly about their own struggles with mental health and well-being. The panel helped create a vulnerable atmosphere and normalized speaking out about mental health. Dr. Buddington has also helped coordinate research opportunities for numerous student-athletes in the fields of mental health and sport psychology.

"It is such an honor to be the recipient of the Dr. Dave Landers Faculty Mentor Award this year," said Dr. Buddington in her acceptance speech. "It was actually my first time being a faculty mentor, and I had no idea how much fun I was going to have…It was the best parts of teaching, which is building relationships with students, trying to figure out what the problem is, and what the solution is to that problem."

-Release provided by Franklin Pierce athletic communications staff-

ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 14 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete. 

Each year, 4,500 student-athletes compete in conference championships, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athle