Skip to main content

College of Arts and Sciences Staff Excellence Awards

Honors and Awards Guidelines | Revised 2021

I. Purpose

The purpose of the Staff Excellence Awards is to honor staff members in COAS who are demonstrating outstanding performance, service and/or contribution. Awards will be given annually, and are available for both classified staff and professional staff categories.

II. Eligibility

Any current classified or professional staff member who meets these criteria:

  • has held a staff appointment at Boise State for at least three years of consecutive service within the College
  • has accomplished outstanding work while at Boise State

Successful awardees are eligible for an award once every ten years.

COAS Staff Excellence Awards nominations will include strong narrative evidence in one or more of the following areas:

  • effectiveness, innovation, creativity, and originality
  • outstanding performance and work products
  • significant impact to a program, or to the College and/or University
  • initiation, improvement or refinement of methods/procedures making things better
  • consistently demonstrates outstanding leadership skills
  • takes initiative to creatively resolve complex and/or sensitive challenges
  • consistently contributes to the creation of a positive workplace climate
  • outstanding efforts and impact in the areas of equity and/or inclusion

III. Nominations

Each department or unit can nominate a classified staff member and a professional staff member, with a maximum of two nominees per department/unit. Nominations should be sent to the COAS office via the email: artscidean@boisestate.edu, with COAS Staff Award Nomination in the subject line. A nomination will consist of a letter written by the nominee’s supervisor, a colleague of the nominee, or the nominee themselves, detailing the nominee’s excellence in performance, service and/or contribution. If the letter is written by a colleague or the nominee, it must be signed by the chair, director, or other unit supervisor.

This letter will be accompanied by the nominee’s resume (or other confirmation of meeting the three year service minimum). Nominations may also include an optional additional letter of support for the nomination and up to three pages of supporting materials (e.g., evidence of outstanding performance, impacts of service, significance of recent contributions such as with special projects or activities, etc.).

The letter should explain how the nominee demonstrates staff excellence. Optionally, the nominee may include information about their participation in staff development opportunities and/or sharing of professional knowledge through presentations, workshops, on special committees, etc.

IV. Procedures

The COAS Dean’s Office staff will serve on the COAS Honors and Awards selection committee for the duration of deliberations for the new staff awards. In subsequent years, the Dean’s Office will request full-time staff volunteer representatives to serve in this selection committee role.

A. The dean will also announce that nominations for the award are due in the College office by the first Friday in November, at which time they will be forwarded to the committee.

B. The committee will meet by the second Friday in November, select a chair, and decide on specific procedures it will follow. (The committee may decide, for example, that members who are unable to attend meetings be invited to convey their assessments of candidates, but that they do not have a vote.)

C. By December 15, the committee will have selected the award recipients, and the committee chair will notify the associate dean of the selection and provide a brief (<300 word) summary of why the recipients are considered the most outstanding. Suggestions for improvements in the Guidelines may also be submitted. The dean will notify the finalist of the results. Committee members should keep the result confidential until the dean announces the award winner at the college’s spring semester opening meeting.