5.1 Award Categories

5.1.1 University Awards of Excellence are given in the following categories:

5.1.1.1 Board of Trustees awards

5.1.1.2 Presidential awards

5.1.1.3 Divisional awards

5.1.2 Other Awards of Excellence

5.1.2.1 Deans’ awards

5.1.2.2 Faculty Senate awards

5.1.2.3 PACE awards

5.2 Eligibility Requirements for University Awards of Excellence

5.2.1 To be eligible for a University Award of Excellence, staff must meet the following requirements:

5.2.1.1 Staff must be salaried, benefits-eligible.

5.2.1.2 Staff must be in good standing and have successfully completed any probationary periods.

5.2.2 To be eligible for a University Award of Excellence, faculty must meet the following requirements: 

5.2.2.1 Faculty must be salaried, benefits-eligible.

5.2.2.2 Faculty must be in good standing.

5.2.2.3 Faculty members who have been notified their contracts are not being renewed are not eligible for these awards.

5.2.3 Further eligibility requirements may be defined by the entity, officer, or division responsible for the award.

5.3 Eligibility Requirements for all other Awards

5.3.1 Eligibility requirements for divisional, deans, Faculty Senate, and PACE awards are determined by the awarding entity.

5.4 Criteria for Awards

5.4.1Criteria for awards will be created and maintained by the entity, officer, or division responsible for the award.

5.5 Number of Awards

5.5.1 Tables 1 and 2 show the maximum number of awards that can be awarded and provide specifications on how the number is determined annually by the awarding entity or officer. 

5.5.2 Trustees may grant the Board of Trustees award for up to 4 employees (faculty and staff) recipients across the university, with the opportunity to grant additional awards in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the Board of Trustees.

5.5.3 The president may grant the President’s award for up to 6 employees (faculty and staff) recipients across the university, with the opportunity to grant additional awards in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the president.

Table 1: University Awards of Excellence

*The Board of Trustees and the university president may grant additional awards at their discretion in exceptional circumstances.

Table 2: Other Awards of Excellence

5.5.4 The deans and divisional heads may grant the divisional and deans’ awards to 1 recipient per 50 employees in that employee classification. See the table below.

Table 3: Range for Divisional and Deans’ Awards

5.5.5 The Faculty Senate may grant Awards of Excellence to 1 full-time faculty member and 1 adjunct faculty member per college or school.

5.5.6 PACE may grant Awards of Excellence to up to 8 full-time employees from across the university and up to 4 part-time employees from across the university.

5.6 Compensation and Funding

5.6.1 The amount of compensation provided with awards may not exceed the applicable percentage of the amount awarded in the Board of Trustees award of excellence (see Tables 1 and 2 in section 5.4.2). The actual award amount for the Board of Trustees award is determined annually by the President’s Council; actual award amounts for all other awards in this policy will be approved by the President’s Council based on percentages as shown in Tables 1 and 2.

5.6.2 Funding for the Board of Trustees, Presidential, Faculty Senate and PACE Awards of Excellence shall be provided centrally from university funds. Divisional Awards of Excellence shall be funded from divisional funds.

5.6.3 Awards are given as a one-time payment that is processed through payroll and that is subject to applicable laws and benefits.

5.7 Award Titles

5.7.1 Award titles shall be identified by the name of the awarding entity, officer, or division, and other information that clarifies the nature of the award.

5.7.2 Only the awards defined in this policy may contain the word “excellence.” Other awards not covered by this policy, which are given by other university entities, shall not contain the word “excellence.”

5.8 Awards of Excellence Nomination Procedures

5.8.1 The following are the steps to be followed for the nominations process and events planning. Actual dates will be approved annually by the President’s Council and published annually by the awarding entities.

5.8.2 Nominations for awards of excellence are submitted to the awarding entity, officer, or division.

5.8.2.1 Nominations must be submitted on the approved application form.

5.8.2.2 Before names of award candidates are submitted, the nominating party must consult each nominee’s immediate supervisor to verify the employee is in good standing.

5.8.3 The nominating party must submit the names of potential recipients for awards of excellence for review to ensure eligibility as follows:

5.8.3.1 For staff nominations, the nominating party must submit to Human Resource Services the names of staff that are being considered for awards. Human Resource Services will review and confirm the potential recipients’ good standing as employees and will report findings to the awarding entity, officer, or division and the nominating party.

5.8.3.2 For faculty nominations, the nominating party must submit names of faculty that are being considered for awards to the Office of Academic Affairs, which will review and confirm the potential recipients’ good standing as employees and will report findings to awarding entity, officer, or division and the nominating party.

5.9 Awards Presentation Procedures

5.9.1 All awards will be presented at an event determined by awarding entity, officer, or division.

5.9.2 Awarding entity, officer, or division notifies recipients and University Marketing, and invites recipients to participate in the appropriate awards of excellence event.

5.9.3 Award recipients shall be honored at appropriate awards of excellence events.

5.9.4 The Board of Trustees and Presidential awards are presented at a university-wide event.

5.9.5 The Faculty Senate, PACE, divisional, and deans’ awards are presented at other events as determined by the awarding entity, officer, or division.