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The University of Texas at Austin

Staff Champion of Community Award

Award Description

The College of Liberal Arts Staff Champion of Community Award is designed to recognize the efforts of staff who strive to create and maintain a welcoming and community-oriented environment for the college’s faculty, staff, and/or students, and wider Austin community. Champions of Community go above and beyond their assigned job duties to support community building within COLA, UT, and/or central Texas. Two staff members will receive the Champion of Community Award and be awarded $1,200 each. Self-nominations are accepted.

To nominate a deserving staff member, complete the nomination form at the COLA HR Wiki Submissions Portal.

Congratulations to the 2021 Recipients

  • Grayson Hunt
  • Kevin Hsu

Self-nominations are accepted. To nominate yourself or a colleague please use this nomination form.

Eligibility

Nominees must meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Classified or Administrative & Professional staff within the College of Liberal Arts.
  • Must work at least 20 hours per week.
  • Must be in current role for at least one year.
  • Cannot have any documented performance issues, including any performance improvement plans since the last performance review cycle.

Nomination Guidelines

Nominees must meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • Develops and/or maintains innovative programming that supports community building for students, staff, faculty, and/or the wider Austin community.
  • Recognized for innovation in community building initiatives or programming.
  • Advocates for policies, procedures, and/or programming at the unit/department, college, or university level that promote belonging and fostering community.
  • Builds a community-oriented climate that supports collaboration and understanding.

Nominations are open Wednesday, October 9, 2024, to Friday, November 8, 2024. A selection committee will evaluate all eligible nominees. Winners will not be selected by the number of nominations, but by the content of the nominations.

Previous Recipients 

2023 Staff Champion of Community

  • Cara Keirstead, Communication Specialist, Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
  • Kacie Vanecek, Administrative Associate, Office of the Dean

2022 Staff Champion of Inclusion

  • Juliana Lindsey, Program Coordinator, Office of Student Success
  • Carlos Eric Bowles, Director, UTeach-Liberal Arts and the Rapoport Service Scholars Program

2021 Staff Champion of Inclusion

  • Grayson Hunt, Associate Director of LGBTQ Studies, Center for Women's and Gender Studies
  • Kevin Hsu, Senior Administrative Associate, Department of Sociology

2020 Staff Champion of Inclusion

  • Beth Chichester, Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Classics
  • Marc Pereira, Senior Academic Advisor, Student Affairs Division