Students and teachers came together Thursday night for the Student Choice Awards. Held at the University Suite in the Holmes Student Center, the awards ceremony named several professors who students nominated as the best.

The event was sponsored by the Student Association. Each professor nominated was from a different department or from a special organization at NIU.

“We set up nomination ballots that were sent to different student organizations around campus as well as encouraged students to come and fill out nomination forms. The person with the most nominations was the winner,” said Jarvis Purnell a junior industrial engineering major and the director of student life for the Student Association.

Each professor who won gave a small thank you speech after they received the award.

“[It] feels great to win,” said Derrick Smith, academic counselor, community relations and professor of black studies. “This is the second time I’ve won this award. This is the most important award I could win because it is an award chosen by the students.”

Some of the other professors shared Smith’s sentiments about feeling good about winning.

“It feels good to win,” said Don Bramlett, director of retentions program and the Black Male Initiative. “I like to work with the students. Their energy gives me energy.”

The BMI is a mentoring and academic support organization for black males at NIU.

The Student Choice Awards was started in 2005. It is a way for the Student Association to honor faculty and staff thought of as people above and beyond the call of duty. The Student Choice Awards started as a way to honor non-faculty personnel but was later extended to include faculty.