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Georgia Southern University’s
Awards of Excellence for Faculty & Staff

Nomination period: October 3 – November 18, 2022
Nominations accepted now through 5 p.m. on November 18, 2022.

Nominate Faculty or Staff

*If you are having difficulty with the nomination or application process, please email gsawards@georgiasouthern.edu.

The University’s Awards of Excellence for Faculty and Staff are designed to identify and reward individuals that make outstanding contributions to the success of Georgia Southern University.

Through this celebratory awards process and ceremony, Georgia Southern will promote employee engagement by recognizing individuals who demonstrate excellence in performance and contributions to one area of the University’s  Pillars and Values.

Objectives of the University’s Awards of Excellence for Faculty & Staff

  • To provide both faculty and staff initiated rewards;
  • To recognize and promote positive relationships and behavior patterns supportive of the individual, team, departmental, and/or institutional priorities and goals;
  • To provide timely recognition to employees through immediate or planned recognition;
  • To provide various types and levels of recognition based on the significance and impact of contribution;
  • To inform supervisors and faculty about the variety of monetary and non-monetary reward options available to recognize an outstanding employee; and
  • To distribute awards through a Spring ceremony.

The Awards of Excellence

A total of 27 awards will be given annually: 12 Strategic Pillar Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff), 12 Institutional Values Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff), 2 Leadership Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff) and (1) Team Award will be given*

Strategic PillarsInstitutional Values
Student SuccessIntegrity
TeachingAcademic Excellence
ResearchDiscovery and Innovation
Inclusive ExcellenceOpenness and Inclusion
Operational Efficiency, Effectiveness and SustainabilitySustainability
Community EngagementCollaboration

University Awards Committee

Patricia Holt, Co-Chair, Professor, College of Education

DeAnn Lewis, Co-Chair, Accounting Information Analyst, University Budget Office/Staff Council Past Chair

Charles Bowen, Police Lieutenant & Training Coordinator, Business and Finance

Vivian Bynoe, Head, Reference & Instruction, University Libraries

Cary Christian, Associate Professor, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences

Anoop Desai, Professor, College of Engineering and Computing

Francis Desiderio, Associate Dean, Honors College

William Eaton, Associate Professor, College of Arts and Humanities

Mark Hanna, Professor, Parker College of Business

Mallory McLendon, Graphic Designer, University Communications and Marketing

Catherine MacGowan, Associate Professor, College of Science and Mathematics

Melanie Miller, Associate Vice President for Student Success, Division of Student Affairs

Miranda Ross, Admissions Advisor, College of Arts and Humanities, Academic Affairs

Stephen Rossi, Associate Dean, College of Health Professions

Hani Samawi, Professor & Interim Department Chair, Jiann-Ping HSU College of Public Health

David Simpson, Director of Student Media Administration, Student Affairs

Kip Sorgen, Associate Professor, College of Education

Scott Taylor, Coordinator of Academic Intervention & Outreach, Academic Affairs, Chair, Staff Council

Kesha Ward, Auditor, Office of the President

Contact: gsawards@georgiasouthern.edu

Awards of Excellence

The University’s Awards of Excellence for Faculty and Staff are aligned with the University’s Strategic Pillars and Values and designed to identify and celebrate individuals that make outstanding contributions to the success of Georgia Southern University.

A total of 27 awards will be given annually: 12 Strategic Pillar Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff), 12 Institutional Values Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff), 2 Leadership Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff) and (1) Team Award will be given*

Strategic Pillar Awards

*Each award is given to one (1) Faculty member and one (1) Staff member

Student Success

The Student Success award is designed to promote and reward those who have demonstrated outstanding efforts to increase student success.

Teaching

This Teaching award will acknowledge those that improve student learning and prepare students to compete in the global marketplace.

Research

The faculty award for Research recognizes a faculty member for excellence in research and/ or creative scholarly activity. The staff award for Research recognizes one staff member for outstanding support in the conduct of research or who have advanced processes, methods and systems through research.

Inclusive Excellence

This award recognizes those individuals who generated valuable ideas that have helped to develop new or improved processes, methods, systems, programs or services for their team, their department, our University or the external community.

Operational Efficiency, Effectiveness and Sustainability

The Operational Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Sustainability Award was designed to recognize those with a commitment increase operational efficiency and effectiveness while maximizing financial capital and human resources to ensure the University’s long-term sustainability–investing in our people and processes to grow others.

Sustainability

The Sustainability Award was designed to recognize a conscientious steward of resources and supports the well-being of students, faculty, staff and communities, and maintains a leadership position in conservation efforts, promoting a a University-wide culture of environmental sustainability.

Community Engagement

This Community Engagement award is designed to give recognition to those who display outstanding community engagement in support of the University.

Institutional Values Awards

*Each award is given to one (1) Faculty member and one (1) Staff member

Integrity

The Integrity Award honors those who practice ethical awareness in decision making and demonstrate an on-going commitment to integral ethical behavior and practices.

Academic Excellence

This award recognizes those individuals who provide or promote educational opportunities or resources that stimulate students academic progression and graduation.

Discovery and Innovation

This award recognizes those individuals that engage in innovative and original creative scholarly activities, technologies and/ or problem-solving collaboratives.

Openness and Inclusion

This award recognizes those who exhibit the ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion into practical action.

Sustainability

The Sustainability Award was designed to recognize those with a commitment to sustainability that is exceptional and best exemplifies dedication to the sustainability value of the University.

Collaboration

The Collaboration Award was designed to recognize and promote those who are dedicated to service to their departments, students, faculty, other departments on campus, and/ or the surrounding community through communication, innovation, integrity and inclusion.

Leadership Award

*Each award is given to one (1) Faculty member and one (1) Staff member

This awards recognizes administrator-level employees (e.g. Program Directors, Assistant/Associate Department Chairs, Department Chair, Directors, Executive Directors, Managers) who, through their extraordinary leadership over the last year, demonstrated exemplary responsive leadership to students, colleagues and other customers of Georgia Southern University.  The award recognizes leaders who, in addition to fulfilling their administrative and managerial roles with dedication and creativity, demonstrate vision and an outstanding commitment to excellence. Nominations should describe specific actions taken by this leader and how these actions benefited faculty, staff, students and/or the surrounding community. The actions by the nominee must reflect the following six values of Georgia Southern: Collaboration, Academic Excellence, Discovery and Innovation, Integrity, Openness and Inclusion and Sustainability. 

Team Award

*one (1) team award

The Team Award recognizes a group of individuals comprised of three or more employees (staff and/or faculty) that contribute to one of the five strategic imperatives while demonstrating one of the six core values to help the University be the best place to work, learn, and succeed.

Download the Full Award Descriptions

Eligibility

To be eligible to receive an Award of Excellence, an employee must be employed by the Georgia Southern University for a minimum of three years at (the nomination period of October 15) and must have received a rating of meets expectations or higher on the previous two performance evaluations.

All personnel up to Associate Vice Presidents, and Associate Deans are eligible for nominations for Awards of Excellence.*

*Please note: Directors, Chairs, and Associate Chairs are eligible for the Leadership award only.

An employee who has won a particular award in the past 3 years is not eligible to compete for that award.

Certain Award Review Committees may have eligibility criteria that supersede these criteria, these are set as a minimum.

The Nomination Process

Any employee may nominate another employee regardless of division, faculty or staff status, supervisory or peer relationships. Nominators can nominate as many faculty and staff as they wish. No self-nominations are allowed. If nominated for more than one award, a faculty/staff member must select one preferred award in order to move forward in this process.  As such a faculty/staff member will only submit one application package per academic year for an Award of Excellence. Consequently, a faculty/staff member cannot receive multiple awards in the same year. Certain Award Review Committees (see section below) may have nomination criteria that supersede these criteria; these are set as a minimum.

Faculty, Staff, Leader and team nominations will be submitted via email to gsawards@georgiasouthern.edu.

The awards process includes: 

  • Eligibility requirements.
  • List of application materials.
  • Schedule of deadlines for nominations and committees’ selection decisions.
  • Open-ended questions nominees and supporters will answer.  
  • Individual awardees, excluding team awards, will receive a professional development award along with a medallion. A plaque is presented for the team award.
  • List of current and previous award winners (pictures, bios).
  • Upcoming ceremony information (date, time, place, dress code) (Late Spring 2023–details forthcoming).

Nomination Period/Application Submission Schedule for 2022-2023

October 3 – November 18, 2022

Nominations Open for both individual and team awards

  • Nominations
  • Verification of Eligibility
  • Application Submission
  • Committee Accepts Application for Review

December 18, 2022

Applications Packets for nominees/team awards must be submitted by December 18

January 2023

Review Process by Committees

February 2023

Award Recipients Names Forwarded to President’s Office

April 2023

Georgia Southern University Excellence in Awards Celebration

The deadline for submission of a nomination is November 18 and December 18 for a nominee’s application. No incomplete or late nominations or applications will be accepted.

Application Packets & Components

After receiving notice from the overseeing committee, the Nominee will acknowledge acceptance of the nomination. Application packets should not exceed 10 pages. Nominees may only submit one application per academic year. If nominated for more than one Award of Excellence, the nominee chooses which award to pursue. Ideally, all documents should use 12-point Times New Roman or similar font with 1” margins to ensure readability. The nominee should submit an application package comprising the following elements*:

  • Nominee or Nominator Narrative.
    Narrative should answer at a minimum the following statements (1 – 2 pages):
    • How does the nominee…
      • Achieve excellence in the award area?
      • Develop, utilize, and share innovative skill sets related to the award area?
      • Continually develop and broaden expertise in the award area?
      • Please provide additional relevant information about contributions to the award area.
  • Resume/Condensed Curriculum Vitae (1 – 6 pages).
  • One to three reference letters that speak to that particular award that have been nominated for. It is the responsibility of the nominee to provide these guidelines to those who write their letters. It is the responsibility of the nominee to collect and upload letters as part of the application packet. These letters are open format, limited to two pages. Letters of recommendation may want to address how the nominee achieves some of the following points:
    • How does the nominee…
      • Achieve excellence in the award area?
      • Develop, utilize, and share innovative skill sets related to the award area?
      • Continually develop and broaden expertise in the award area?
      • Please provide additional supporting evidence (examples: photos, thank you notes, news articles, certificates, brochures, etc.)

*Certain Award Review Committees (Faculty Senate Development, Research, and Service Committees) may have application packet and components criteria that supersede these criteria; these are set as a minimum. The nominees will be contacted or emailed by these committees with additional information.

Committee Review Structure

A total of 10 committees will review the Faculty, Staff and Team awards. Six of the committees will provide a peer-review process for the applicants and four committees will be joint. The joint committees will consist of members from both the faculty and staff with equal representation. The charge to the following committees is to review application packets and decide on the Awards of Excellence winners. Each committee will evaluate the applicants based upon a set criterion and rubric. Rubrics are designed per award.

Separate Committees

Faculty Peer-Review Process; Staff Peer-Review Process

  1. Teaching (Pillar) and Academic Excellence (Value)
    Faculty    : Faculty Senate Development Committee
    Staff: Staff Committee for Teaching/Academic Excellence Awards
  2. Research (Pillar) and Discovery and Innovation (Value)
    Faculty    : Faculty Senate Research Committee
    Staff: Staff Committee for Research/Discovery and Innovation Awards
  3. Community Engagement (also known as Service) (Pillar) and Collaboration (Value)
    Faculty: Faculty Senate Service Committee
    Staff: Staff Committee for Community Engagement/Collaboration Awards

Joint Committees of Faculty/Staff

4 Committees

  1. Inclusive Excellence (Pillar) and Openness and Inclusiveness (Value)
    Committee Review will be conducted by the President’s Diversity Advisory Committee in collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Affairs. 
  2. Operational EE&S (Pillar) and Sustainability (Value)
    Committee Review will be conducted under the direction of the AVP for Planning and Analysis in conjunction with and the Director of the Center for Sustainability. These leaders will identify individuals that have expertise in operational efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability that can ascertain the contributions of the applicants.  The committee structure should be a cross-section of faculty, staff, administrators, and students.
  3. Student Success (Pillar)
    Committee Review will be conducted by the Student Success Institutional Committee with representation from the Faculty Senate Student Success Committee. 
  4. Integrity (Value) & Team Award
    The committee will be representative of faculty and staff, across Divisions and Academics.

Rubrics

Strategic Pillars

Institutional Values

University Awards Feedback