Eligibility

All regular full time MGA staff members are eligible for consideration. Previous award recipients are not eligible until five years after receiving the award. Any University employee can be nominated for all three awards. Nominations will not be accepted for individuals who are involved in the selection process.

• The staff member may be nominated more than once, but not by the same person in the same year.
• Deans, Provosts, Assistant/Associate Vice Presidents, Cabinet, and Staff Council members are not eligible for selection as outstanding staff.

Nomination process

Nominations may be submitted between Feb 1 and May 1 each year. The nomination consists of an email with a brief introduction from the nominating person about the candidate. An attachment that justifies your candidate as a winning choice needs to be included with the email. It is important to write a justification that addresses criteria and qualities (see below) for the particular award in which your candidate is nominated. Nominations should be sent to .

Please follow these steps when nominating someone for an award:

1. Write a justification statement (not to exceed 500 words) for your candidate using Microsoft Word. Your justification should include a candidate’s attributes as defined by an award’s criteria. The selection committee will use the award criteria to evaluate a candidate based on attributes included in a justification statement.
2. Please attach your nomination document to an email addressed to ; please do not provide your nomination letter in the body of the email.
3. In the email’s body, clearly state the person’s name, position, and contact information.

4. The email’s subject line needs to include the award’s title and the nominee’s name, for example, Service excellence nomination for John Doe.

Below are the guidelines for the nomination process:

• There is no limit on the number of nominations per person.
• All nominees will receive a notification email that they have been nominated.
• Staff who qualify for the award are nominated by their peers and reviewed through an award process conducted by the Professional Development and Staff Recognition Committee of the Staff Council. With permission of the nominator, the Committee may move a nomination from one category to another if a different award is better suited to a nomination.
• Nominations may be submitted by university employees, current students, and in some cass, students’ parents; however, self-nominations will not be accepted. Family members who work at MGA may not submit nominations for other family members. There is an expectation that nominee criteria will map to the MGA core values: Stewardship, Engagement, Adaptability and Learning.

Winner Selection

Nominees are reviewed by the Professional Development and Staff Recognition Committee. The committee will select no more than eight finalists for each award and submit them to an independent committee/individuals who will make the final selection. The award criteria will be used for evaluating the submission of each nominee. Candidates that meet the Additional Qualities for their award nomination(s) will be given extra consideration. Winners will be announced at fall convocation.

Service Excellence Award

This award recognizes a staff member who has made exceptional contributions, exceeding regular expectations, to deliver services of superior quality to external or internal customers, partners and/or stakeholders. This honor is awarded to an MGA full-time staff member, who demonstrates exceptional customer service to the University and/or the general public.

Criteria:

• Goes above and beyond the call of duty in providing assistance to customers
• Is extremely conscientious to ensure customers (students, parents, other MGA employees, vendors, community patrons, administration, faculty, etc.) receive necessary guidance in order to meet their needs
• Maintains a steady focus on the timely and courteous delivery of services even under stressful circumstances
• Makes an effort to network and collaborate with other employees
• Exhibits a positive and professional attitude when interacting with co-workers, faculty, students, and visitors
• Teamwork: Works well with others to reach a common goal, complete a project, etc.
• Owns problems until fully resolved or referred successfully to another staff member
• Uses information from complaints to provide valuable feedback
• Must have completed the six month probationary period.
• May be nominated by University employees and current students and their parents

Additional Qualities:

• Other examples of excellence not listed in above criteria
• Volunteer and service work within the university
• Greeting everyone in a warm and welcoming manner
• Displays fairness, courtesy, and respect to everyone

Unsung Hero Award

This award recognizes behind-the-scenes staff members who go above and beyond the call of duty to improve the MGA experience for students, co-workers, faculty and/or staff. This honor is awarded to a full-time staff member of MGA who works diligently and believes in a job well done but is seldom recognized publicly for his or her work. This individual is continually a dependable resource to the MGA community and is a true benefit to coworkers.

Criteria:

• Strives to make MGA a better place to work so that others will want to experience the University life as an employee or a student
• Recognizes that students are integral to the University's core mission
• Knows that his or her efforts assist in the success of others and the university
• Is an example of commitment and a strong work ethic
• Gives of himself or herself in an effort to improve the on-campus environment on a daily basis
• Helps make great things happen at the University
• Always willing to lend a hand - even if it's not his or her job
• Must have completed the six month probationary period.
• May be nominated by University employees and current students

Additional Qualities:

• Is kind and considerate to MGA community members
• Displays a positive attitude and works well with others

Champion Award

This honor is awarded to a staff member of the institution that exemplifies MGA's core values of stewardship, engagement, adaptability, and learning. The recipient of this award embraces our vision of transforming individuals and their communities through extraordinary higher learning and their actions have a positive impact on the future of the University, its administration, faculty, students, and fellow staff members.

Criteria:

• Creates and fosters a positive and productive workplace
• Contributes to the development of department or division initiatives
• Promotes or improves the image of the institution
• Works well with co-workers, other departments and divisions
• Makes an effort to network and collaborate with other employees
• Functions as an active stakeholder in the success of the institution
• Shows loyalty and commitment to increase the overall department or unit performance
• Champions the success of the University
• Fosters comradery among university employees
• Volunteers for tasks beyond his or her designated job duties
• Makes members of the MGA community feel appreciated
• Must have completed the six month probationary period
• Can be nominated by university employees and current students

Additional Qualities:

• Worked or assisted on a major project
• Promotes school pride
• Exemplifies qualities of the Unsung Hero and Customer Service Awards