Benefits Human Resources

Part-Time University Staff Excellence Award Criteria

Four Part-Time Staff Excellence Awards, one per each District, will be awarded to staff employees who:

• have at least two years of continuous, part-time service (.01 FTE to .74 FTE) to the University of Utah by June 30, 2026
• are in good standing with their respective department and the University (no disciplinary actions on file within the last three years)
• are not Faculty, Director-level staff and above, UU Staff Council members, or District Award team members; self-nominations are also not accepted
• exemplify *one of the Six Commitments to our Community
• Part-time award winners not are eligible for the final 8 University Staff Excellence winners

Full-Time District & University Staff Excellence Award Criteria

24 District Awards will be awarded across 4 Districts, determined by number of staff working in that area. From this pool of 24 District winners, the final 8 University Staff Excellence Presidential awardees will be selected by an Executive Committee. To be eligible for the District and University Staff Excellence Presidential awards, the employee should:

• have at least two years of continuous, full-time service (.75 FTE and above) to the University of Utah by June 30, 2026
• be in good standing with their respective department and the University (no disciplinary actions on file within the last three years)
• not be Faculty, Director-level staff and above, UU Staff Council members, or District Award team members; self-nominations are also not accepted
• exemplify *one of the Six Commitments to our Community

*While your nominee may demonstrate many, and perhaps all, of the Six Commitments, please select the one that best represents their work/impact at the University of Utah. Your nomination material and/or additional letters of support should reflect on this one Commitment. 

When writing your nomination or letter of recommendation, please note that nominations must be in line Six Commitments to Our Community. You should be prepared to demonstrate how your nominee exemplifies at least *one of these commitments in their work and contributions to the University of Utah:

• Commitment to Lead: How does your nominee serve as a leader at work, home and in the community?
• Commitment to Education: How does your nominee inspire lifetime success through learning?
• Commitment to Research: How does your nominee innovate, improve lives, and change the world/their community/their work?
• Commitment to Serve: How does your nominee embed themselves in the social, economic, and cultural fabric of Utah and the University of Utah?
• Commitment to Patient Care: What is your nominee's impact on patient care and how do they care for the health & well-being of all Utahns?
• Commitment to Unify with Sister Institutions: How does your nominee represent the University of Utah and their commitment to the growth and success of the U's mission?

*While your nominee may demonstrate many, and perhaps all, of the Six Commitments, please select the one that best represents their work/impact at the University of Utah. Any nomination material written and/or your additional letters of support attached should reflect on this one Commitment. 

Nominations will be scored by District teams and the final Executive/Selection Committee based on the following:

• Service Excellence: Demonstrates creativity, self-motivation, and desire for improvement.
• Work Excellence: Demonstrates exceptional ability in quality work, proficiency, initiative, dependability, and creativity. Quality of work as measured against the type of work being performed
• Excellence beyond Job Category: Shows outgoing desire for improvement
• Commitment to Teamwork: Positive attitude, willingness to cooperate and the ability to relate to others /care/concern/respect
• Relationships: Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with co-workers, leadership and internal/ external customers
• Commitment to the U: Has an attitude of ongoing commitment & understanding of U and helps the University achieve its mission
• Overall Impression 

Nominations may be made by any faculty or staff member and must be completed by an online submission. We encourage all nominations be submitted through the online format for the 2026 Staff Excellence Awards.

We recognize that there may be some individuals who are unable to submit an online nomination. If you do not have access to a computer or have other concerns about submitting an online nomination, please contact your district chair. Each situation will be addressed as needed so all who want to submit a nomination are able to do so.

Letters of support are a great way to provide additional (yet optional) backing for a nomination or to show a group/department effort in nominating a particular employee. A total of three, one-page max letters can be added as attachments to the online nomination form; letters of support should continue to highlight/build upon the initial nomination by providing more examples on how a nominee exemplifies one of the University's Six Commitments to our Community.

2025 University Staff Excellence Award Winners

Previous University Staff Excellence Award Winners

FAQ

• Who is my nominee's District Chair/who should I talk to about specific questions in my District? 
  • Academics & Student Affairs District | Lindsey Kal DeSpain
  • Administration | Tyler Matsamas
  • Health Academics | Alia Lilywhite
  • Hospitals & Clinics | Kari Smith
• Who is on each District Committee team and the Executive Committee Team (Staff Council)?
• From which District is my nominee?
  • Our online nomination is connected to PeopleSoft, so it automatically assigns the correct District when you submit a nomination. However, you'd like to know the District your nominee comes from ahead of submitting a nomination, the best way to use the "HR Dept. Org. Head Lookup" tool on CIS. Enter the department org ID of your nominee and click "Show Rollup."
    • If the org ID "rolls up" to Orgs 02002 (Sr. VP Academic Affairs) or 00290 (VP for Student Affairs), the nominee belongs to the Academics & Student Affairs District
    • If the org ID "rolls up" to 02193 (Sr. VP Health Sciences), the nominee belongs to the Health Academics District
    • If the org ID "rolls up" to 9900 (Hospitals & Clinics), the nominee belongs to the Hospitals & Clinics District
    • If the org ID "rolls up" to any other org ID not previously mentioned, they belong to the Administration District
• How do I know if my nominee is part-time or a full-time employee?
  • Our online nomination form is connected to PeopleSoft, so the nomination form will automatically know whether your nominee is part-time or full-time.
• Director-level and above are not eligible, but what about Associate Directors? Or what about the eligibility of [insert specific job title here]?  
  • Associate Directors are eligible for nomination as they classify below Director-level. If you have any question about whether a certain job title qualifies, the easiest way to see if they are eligible is to try to submit a nomination! Our online nomination form is connected to PeopleSoft, so it automatically knows who is eligible and who is not eligible; it will not allow you to nominate someone who does not fit the criteria (less than 2 years of continuous service, are a Faculty member or Director-level staff or above). The only criteria we manually check for is to ensure the nominee is not a UU Staff Council member, District Committee member, and there are no disciplinary actions on file within the last three years.
• Is there a certain template/format for the nomination? Does it need to be written as a letter? What kinds of details need to be included in the nomination?
  • You can certainly write your nomination as a letter, or however you’d like as long as you demonstrate with concrete details and explain why the nominee fits the nomination category you are nominating them for (one of the Six Commitments to our Community). There’s no universal structure for how nominations are written, and you can be creative as you’d like. Most of the time, however, it is written as a letter directed to members of the District committee.
• Is there a certain template/format for the letters of support? Who can write letters of support?
  • There are no specific format to the letters of support either; again, we allow for flexibility and creativity. Most of the time they are written as formal letters addressed to the District Committee, but in the past we’ve seen nominators submit “word clouds” of common words used to describe the person, patient comments, articles written about the nominee, past awards the nominee has won, etc. You can get letters of support from anyone who works closely with the nominee from supervisors to colleagues to patients, etc.
• I want to nominate someone, but I don't work with them directly or supervise them - I don't even work in the same District as them. Is that allowed?
  • Of course! Anyone from any District can nominate anyone from any District who fits the criteria for the part-time or full-time awards.
• Can I nominate more than one person?
  • Yes! You can nominate as many people as you would like, but typically most people focus on one person to nominate each year.