University Staff Excellence Award

Congratulations to the 2025 nominees: 

Julie Ahearn

Elizabeth Bass

AJ Bierwirth

Chris Boldon

Sheri Craig

Jane Fredrick

Terry Grossbach

Susan Hall

Jill Kirkpatrick

Jim Osborne

Shauna Salow

Lynne Freascher

Krista Shulka

Julie Schumacher

Terry Stika

Dwayne Webb

 UW-La Crosse Annual University Staff Excellence Award guidelines 

Eligibility

Recipients must be UWL university staff who have been employed for a minimum of 12 months by submission date of nomination. Immediate past recipient, project and temporary employees are not eligible. Previous nominees may be re-nominated.

University Staff is defined as non-instructional support staff including administrative support, ADAs, Custodial Services, Police Services, and Facilities staff such as Electricians, Steamfitters and HVAC.

Selection criteria

Nominees will be evaluated based on documentation of their outstanding achievements and contribution. The application should provide specific evidence of excellence, worthy of recognition. Particular attention will be paid to nominees who are not only outstanding in their roles as university employees, but also show evidence of other service to UWL and to the community.

Selection committee

The UWL University Staff Excellence Award selection will be undertaken by the USC (University Staff Council) Excellence Award Committee. The committee is a standing committee of the UWL university staff members serving a three year term. There shall be a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of seven (7) representatives from University Staff, including at least one USC member or adjunct council member to report and attend council meetings. It is recommended that there be a representative from each of the three employment categories: Administrative Support, Facilities & Maintenance, and Professional Services. If any committee member is nominated for the award, that person must recuse themselves from this committee.

Recognition

The UW-La Crosse University Staff Excellence Award consists of one $800 honorarium and a UWL recognition plaque. The honorarium will be used for professional development and must be used by May 31st of the fiscal year the award is granted. The recipient may elect to share or advance the honorarium to whomever they wish, as long as it is used for professional development and/or travel. 

The committee will notify the Budget Office of the recipient. The Budget Office will in turn set up a new account in the recipient's department, notify the recipient when the account is setup and transfer the funding into the new account for access by the recipient.

The recipient of the award will be recognized at a special event and the Chancellor's Fall Address held in August. 

In addition to all UWL recognition, the recipient will be nominated for the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents University Staff Excellence Award.  If selected,  an award of $7,500 will be made to the university staff member in recognition of their exceptional service to the university. The funds for these awards are designated to support professional development or other activities approved by the recipients that enhance a university program or function.  It is anticipated that award recipients will be publicly recognized during a fall meeting of the Board of Regents. In addition, all nominees will be recognized by the Board of Regents and in Universities of Wisconsin announcements and press releases. 

Who may nominate

Nominations may come from a college, department, or division unit. Nominations may also come from university staff, academic staff, administrators, faculty, students and self-nominations.  University staff who have been previously nominated may be re-nominated.

Nominations must be made to the chairperson of the University Staff Council Excellence Award Committee.

Timeline

Nominations will start in January (spring semester) and end on March 1st.

The selection committee will review the nominations. The committee will present their choice to the USC by the March meeting for approval.

The recipient’s name must be to the Chancellor’s office by April 1st.

Nominations

This statement should be a summary which highlights the contributions and the achievements of the nominee as described, including evidence of work above and beyond the nominee’s stated job responsibilities and requirements. Evidence of University or community involvement should also be included.  Examples of tasks completed by the nominee as well as letters or statements of support are encouraged and strengthen a nomination.

Nomination materials should address the following criteria, as they will be considered by the campus committee in the review of all nominations.

• Excellence of performance: performance that consistently and substantially exceeds in quality the expectations for the position; performance that has set superior standards of excellence and efficiency in relation to the mission of the departmental unit and the university, and has  resulted in important and significant contributions to his or her department and institution.
• Personal interaction: performance that consistently and substantially demonstrates ability and willingness to work positively and effectively with others; performance that demonstrates ability and willingness to manage changes in work priorities, procedures, and organization.
• Initiative and creativity: performance that consistently and substantially demonstrates an innovative approach to the job, thereby improving productivity and the quality of the work assigned; performance that demonstrates efforts to improve personal job performance.
• Support of the university and its mission through positive interaction with the university and the community.

Tips on writing strong nominations

From: Task Force of Florida International University

In order to assist the task force with the selection process, please provide as much detailed information as possible about the nominee and their contributions as it pertains to delivering excellent service. Please remember that the task force may not know the individual as well as you do, and your summary will be critical in assisting them with their decision. Below are a few tips to guide you in writing a strong nomination:

1. Think about the nominee you have selected and ask yourself, “Why does this nominee stand out for delivering excellent service?”
2. If the nominee has won other awards throughout their career that the committee should know about, list them in your nomination summary.
3. If there are facts or data that may be shared to show the significant achievements the nominee has made as it pertains to delivering excellent service – facts and numbers help tell the story!
4. Your nominee’s supervisor is the best source of information. Contact them as they may be able to provide you with more detailed information about the nominee to support your nomination.
5. Now that you have all the data, you are ready to write your summary. Be creative and remember that the task committee may know very little about the nominee - you are going to share as much information about them so they can understand why they deserve a Presidential Salute.
6. Start your summary by introducing the nominee to the task force. You may want to share information such as their job title, their length of service, career history, etc.
7. Share factual information about the nominee’s accomplishments. Remember, you are now painting a picture to the task force about the nominee and you must keep it factual, yet keep them engaged in understanding the achievements of the nominee.
8. Give examples to support your statements about the nominee.
9. Proofread your essay to make sure there are no misspelled words and if there are any acronyms that not everyone may know about, remember to explain them.

Congratulations! You have taken an important step in recognizing a colleague - it says a lot about you and your ability to recognize others for their work and contributions! The time and effort to write this summary is much appreciated and your submission is a great example of collegiality and teamwork. Please feel free to encourage your colleagues to take part in this recognition program – acknowledging service excellence.

Sample nomination

I would like to nominate Lilly Johnson (an Academic Department Associate in the Biology Department) for the University Staff Excellence Award, for her “willingness to serve” attitude. Lilly was one of nearly 50 employees that volunteered to assist with the graduation ceremonies, however, I found her service to the students and their family members to be highly commendable!

What was most memorable for me about the service that Lilly provided was that even after the ceremony had begun, Lilly was still working. Lilly offered to wait in the corridor to supply tickets to family members of a guest so that they could go into the arena and enjoy the ceremony. Throughout the ceremony while other volunteers took their seats, Lilly remained standing near the entry doors (making her easily recognizable to the guests) providing directions to the nearest restrooms and helping late guests locate seats. Following the ceremony, I observed Lilly assisting a guest that had been seated upstairs, locate a program for the event as well as continuing to help others locate the restrooms.

Lilly was both approachable and caring, making it easy for guests to obtain information. She left a positive impression on the students and family members that attended December’s Commencement. Lilly is most deserving of this award.

Letters of support

Letters may come from students, peers, colleagues, administrators, supervisors, alumni, or community members who have first-hand knowledge of the nominee's performance. The letters should describe the specific outstanding contributions that make the nominee deserving of this award. When including letters of support, they need to be submitted with the nomination form. Questions may be directed to useac@uwlax.edu.

Submission of nomination

Nomination forms along with letters of support shall be submitted ONLINE all together as one packet and consist of the following information:

• Name of nominee 
• Position title of nominee
• Department
• Length of service to the university

Nominating individual’s information required for consideration: 

• Nominating individual’s name
• Nominating individual’s email address

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Staff Excellence Award is given annually to a member of the University Staff who has shown excellence in performance, personal interaction, initiative and creativity. The recipient has supported the University and its mission through positive interaction with the University and the community. 

The University Staff Council presents this award in grateful recognition of outstanding service and dedication that exemplifies the desired qualities of the University Staff.

2026 Nomination link: https://uwlax.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8l7qDEG8SvRccmO

Previous recipients:

2024 - Dirck Nagy

2023 - Kelly Arnost

2022 - Jeri Baller

2021 - Britney Heineman

2020 - Kathy Thoen

2019 — Becky Yoshizumi

2018 — Sue Hengel

2017 — Randy Otto

2016 — Laurie Collison

2015 — Dave Anderson

The purpose of the Regents University Staff Excellence Awards is to recognize the dedicated work, vital services, initiative, and outstanding contributions of university staff throughout the Universities of Wisconsin.

One award of $7,500 will be made to a program staffed primarily by university staff in recognition of their important role in supporting the mission, priorities, or programs of the university.  The funds for the program award are designated to support program enhancements such as the staff recipients’ professional development or program-related supplies and expenses, or for other activities approved by the recipients that enhance a university program or function. The Regents University Staff Excellence Awards Committee will select the award recipients. 

It is anticipated that award recipients will be publicly recognized at a fall meeting of the Board of Regents. In addition, all nominees will be recognized by the Board of Regents and in Universities of Wisconsin announcements and press releases.

Each university may nominate one program staffed primarily by university staff for this award.  A UW program primarily staffed by university staff. The program should provide essential services to the university while demonstrating excellence of performance, initiative or creativity, and outstanding achievement.  We see this as an opportunity to highlight for our Regents the qualities of our outstanding staff.  Please submit all Program nomination suggestions to usc@uwlax.edu no later March 1st.  The selection committee and the University Staff Council will communicate with the Chancellor to select a Program nominee and gather all required nomination materials.