CU Denver will once again acknowledge our hard-working, talented staff with five campus-wide excellence awards this spring. Please nominate staff members and share this opportunity widely within your school, college or unit. The five awards are:
The Excellence in Mentoring Staff Award recognizes a staff member for exemplary mentoring skills and consistent efforts to engage team members, colleagues, and others in ways that optimize their collective success. Mentors work across teams or units to improve the workplace culture for all, either in a formal supervisory role (managers) or not (non-managers). The ideal nominee will have the following characteristics:
- Recognized natural gifts in colleagues or team members and worked to support others’ professional growth
- Shown the ability to embrace varied perspectives and regard for other’s traditions, abilities, and qualities to improve collaboration, communication, and pride
- Promoted the transfer of knowledge and influence from person to person
The Exemplary Student-Support Staff Award recognizes a staff member who has consistently provided quality service to students. The nominee shows initiative and commitment to putting students at the center of their work and to encouraging and motivating peers/colleagues to streamline systems and processes with students in mind. The successful nominee will have the following characteristics:
- Exhibited creative and innovative problem-solving
- Demonstrated an ongoing commitment to improve the student experience
- Demonstrated integrity, respect, and excellence in all aspects of their student-serving role at CU Denver
The Hidden Gem Staff Award recognizes a staff member who has positively enhanced the workplace and lives of others within CU Denver, often working behind the scenes with an enthusiastic attitude in whatever capacity is necessary. This staff member demonstrates outstanding reliability in the execution of vital duties, without which our Lynx community could not function. This award is to acknowledge performance where the nominee has consistently and substantially demonstrated the following characteristics:
- The ability and willingness of a staff member to work positively and effectively with others
- The ability and willingness to manage changes in work priorities, procedures, and organization
- Sought excellence everywhere and took initiative to make processes/procedures better
The Inclusive Excellence Staff Award honors a staff member who demonstrates a long-standing commitment to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at CU Denver. The nominee will demonstrate the following characteristics:
- Engaged our campus community to share responsibility for creating and sustaining a just, safe, and inclusive campus
- Improved our systems to actively support minoritized people and historically marginalized identities
- Worked to reduce bias and create and sustain equity
The Lynx Leadership Staff Award recognizes a staff member’s extraordinary leadership contributions to CU Denver. The ideal nominee contributes to a positive collegial environment for the benefit of faculty, staff, or students, with a focus on promoting unity, communication, and positive outcomes in programs, initiatives, or projects. The successful nominee will be seen as a leader, formal or informal, by colleagues across the campus. The Lynx Leadership Award nominee will have the following characteristics:
- Modeled competent and conscientious performance
- Enhanced the service experience, and leading projects, initiatives, or programs with exceptional collaboration, communication, and cooperation
- Track record of demonstrating professionalism and a growth mindset
Eligibility
To be eligible for these awards, an employee must be a classified or university staff member with at least one year of service at .50 FTE or greater. A complete digital nomination packet (not to exceed five pages) must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17 with this form.
Submissions should be emailed to staffexcellenceawards@ucdenver.edu; not all awards will necessarily be given each year.
Nominations
The nomination packet must include all of the following items incorporated into one PDF and submitted with the form:
- Nominating statement written by a nominator or the nominee that includes the nominee’s philosophy and examples of relevant work meeting at least one of the three criteria for the award
- A statement of endorsement from the nominee’s supervisor, if not submitted by the nominee’s supervisor
- Correspondence from current and former colleagues such as other staff, faculty, students, peers, alumni, or administrators
- A brief bio or work summary that covers the nominee’s relevant professional experience
Submissions will be reviewed by selection committees with broad campus representation, including members of Staff Council. Winners will be recognized at the Staff Excellence and Milestones event, scheduled for April 21, with a certificate and $1500 stipend. Here's a story about last year’s awardees, plus those celebrating milestone years of service.