Purpose of Program: The Employee of the Year Award is presented annually to recognize exceptional staff in the College of Arts and Sciences.

List of Those Eligible: Any A&S classified or university staff may be nominated for this award, excluding current members of the Arts and Sciences Dean’s Staff Advisory Committee (SAC). Nominations are accepted from fellow staff, faculty or students who have firsthand knowledge of the nominee's performance.

Awards: Multiple awards of $1,500 may be given each fiscal year. Employees may receive this award once in any five-year period.

Award Criteria: The nomination review committee will be looking for employees who consistently demonstrate outstanding job performance, leadership, innovation and inclusive excellence. Please respond to the following prompts in your nomination letters:

  1. Describe how this employee consistently exhibits outstanding performance in all areas of their job.

  2. Explain how this employee demonstrates or inspires leadership in the department or unit, in the college and/or campus at large (if applicable). Note that the employee need not be in a manager position. For example, the employee might have demonstrated leadership by sharing an efficiency they created within their job with others in similar roles in other units or forming a new collaboration. 

  3. Explain how this employee has shown innovation through development of new ideas, creative problem solving, adapting to change, engaging in professional development opportunities, etc. 

  4. Describe examples of this employee’s dedication to pursuing and fostering inclusive excellence in their unit, on the CU Boulder campus or in the surrounding community by engaging with diverse perspectives, mitigating bias, addressing barriers to inclusion, etc.

Please be detailed in your nomination letters and provide examples that specifically address the award specifications. If you submitted a nomination in a previous year and your nominee was not selected, please consider submitting revised or new letters to strengthen your case.

Nomination Process: The College of Arts and Sciences will put out a call seeking nominations. Each nomination packet should consist of three individual nominator letters total: 1) a primary nomination letter and 2) two supporting nomination letters. All letters should address the award criteria listed above. At least one letter must come from the unit of employment. The packet should not exceed six pages. All letters should be combined in one PDF document and submitted through the nomination form by the primary nominator by the deadline.

Nomination Process: The College of Arts and Sciences will put out a call seeking nominations. Each nomination packet should consist of three individual nominator letters total: 1) a primary nomination letter and 2) two supporting nomination letters. All letters should address the award criteria listed above. At least one letter must come from the unit of employment. The packet should not exceed six pages. The primary nominator should combine all letters into one PDF document and submit using the nomination form at https://www.colorado.edu/asfacultystaff/content/sac-employee-year-nomination-2024.

Deadline to submit: April 1, 2024

Selection and Notification Process: The Dean’s Staff Advisory Committee will review the nomination packets and make a recommendation to the dean in the spring semester. Award recipients will be notified no later than May.