Award Categories

Two letters of support are required for the Achievement award and Commitment to Student Award, yet are always welcome for all awards and will be taken into consideration for the award selection.

1. Achievement Award (2 Letters of Support Required) The highest honor bestowed upon Administrative Professional staff at Grand Valley State University. The award recognizes the singularly outstanding contributions by a staff member to the University, professional field, and surrounding community. The recipient embodies the University's mission, vision, and values and bring distinction to GVSU through their work. 
2. Commitment to Diversity Award Established to recognize an individual AP staff member who serves as an example to others through a commitment to diversity beyond the scope of their professional responsibilities. The nominee is a person who demonstrates through action the ideals of cultural diversity and interculturalism, and who helps others gain greater understanding of diversity and interculturalism.
3. Commitment to Students Award Established to recognize an individual AP staff member who shows a commitment to serve as a strong mentor to GVSU students beyond the person's normal professional responsibilities and regardless of their professional role. Nominations should outline the person's trustworthiness and skills with students in the areas of advising, advocacy, referrals, listening, accessibility, and motivation. Nominations for this award must be either made or supported by at least one student.
4. Innovation Award Established to recognize an individual AP staff member whose innovative ideas and practices benefit the University in a specific way. This could include methods to improve cost-efficiency, changes in procedures, creating new programs or services, or leading new initiatives. 
5. Outstanding Team Project Award Established to recognize the work of an ad-hoc team of AP staff members from two or more departments that accomplish a project benefiting the University. While the nominated project may be ongoing or not yet complete, nominations should emphasize work of staff members across unit lines during the past year.
6. Service to Community Award Established to recognize an individual AP staff member who has gone above and beyond professional responsibilities in contributing their expertise and service to at least one of the following: (1) the GVSU community, (2) the professional organization of their discipline, or (3) the local/national/international community.

Nominating Someone

• Write out your nomination in a word processing document beforehand-the form times out after a period of inactivity, so if you take too long, you could lose your data! 

• Write two to five paragraphs to answer each question on the nomination form.  Provide enough detail that the committee gets a sense of specifics. 

• Be specific. Cite specific actions and accomplishments;, and be sure to connect those things clearly to the criteria of the award.  Review the rubric for the award (see below) so you can highlight things the committee will be looking for. 

• Remember that committee members do not necessarily work in your area.  You may need to include enough context to help the committee understand the impact of actions in your area or on the campus as a whole. 

• The awards committee is committed to making decisions from a neutral standpoint. Assume we do not know the nominee, or the project/accomplishments being described. 

• Letters of support are required for the Achievement award and Commitment to Student Award yet are always welcome for all awards and will be taken into consideration for the award recipient selection.

• If you are nominating for an award that requires letters of support, check the nomination system regularly to see which letters have been completed/submitted. In the past, the awards committee has tried to help nominators keep up with this, but the system itself now makes it possible for nominators to monitor whether nominations are complete. 

  • Awards that require letters of support: 

    1. Achievement Award: at least 2 letters of support from someone other than the nominator 

    2. Commitment to Students: at least 1 letter of support from a student. For this award, having multiple high-quality letters of support from students will impact the candidate’s score. 

If you have questions about the nomination process, you can reach out to the current AP awards committee chair.