The School of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce the ninth annual Staff Excellence Recognition Program.
Juli Wade, Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, will recognize staff who have distinguished themselves in service excellence and dedication to the School of Arts and Sciences, our students, and constituents. The award criteria listed below incorporates values highlighted by a group of SAS staff.
Nominations for the SAS Staff Excellence Recognition Program for 2026 will be accepted through a web portal starting on September 29, 2026. The deadline for nominations is October 30, 2026. Award winners will be recognized at a reception with the Executive Dean in early 2027.
Award Categories
In an effort to ensure the SAS Staff Excellence Recognition Program encompasses the broad spectrum of staff in the school, a group of past SAS Staff Excellence Award winners recommended the addition of categories to the award program. When considering possible nominees and when completing the online nomination form, please determine if the nominee’s work:
- Primarily relates to the student experience, or
- Primarily relates to the operations of the school, or
- Directly impacts staff engagement and workplace culture in the school, unit, and/or program
Criteria
Nominations should address the following criteria, with specific examples, since award recipients will be selected on the merits and strengths of the contributions.
- Demonstrates ongoing excellence in service to faculty, staff, students, community and/or other customers.
- Exhibits initiative and creativity in developing solutions to problems that result in improved service and/or efficiency and effectiveness of an operation, unit, and/or school.
- Promotes productive relationships; strives to motivate and support others; contributes to a positive, collaborative work environment; and promotes positive morale.
- Demonstrates a commitment to and support of the school’s values, including discovery and innovation; promoting belongingness; strengthening community; engaging the public; and leadership at Rutgers, in the community, and world.
Eligibility
- Nominees must be full-time staff employees (non-academic employees) from any unit within the School of Arts and Sciences.
- Staff must have been working in the School of Arts and Sciences for at least one year (staff must have a hire date of September 29, 2025, or prior in an SAS position to be eligible).
- Generally, previous recipients of the Staff Recognition Award are not eligible for nomination for five years; However, previous recipients of an individual Staff Recognition Award are eligible to be nominated for a team Staff Recognition Award without the five-year stipulation and previous recipients of a team Staff Recognition Award are eligible to be nominated for an individual Staff Recognition Award without the five-year stipulation.
- Previous recipients of the Staff COVID-19 Response Award are eligible for the SAS Staff Recognition Award (if not prior winners of the SAS Staff Recognition Award).
- Individual staff members or teams of staff will be considered. Teams of staff members should work collaboratively to achieve goals across the school and can include departments, committees, work groups, etc.
- Anyone affiliated with the School of Arts and Sciences (staff, faculty, students) is welcome to submit nominations.
- There is no limit to the number of nominations a person may submit.
- A staff member may not submit a nomination for themselves, and they may not submit a nomination for a team on which they are a team member.
Selection Process
- Nominations must be submitted online no later than October 30, 2026 at 5:00pm.
- A committee comprised of the prior year’s Staff Excellence Recognition winners will review the nominations and advise the Executive Dean of their recommendations.
- The award winners will be announced in early 2027. Award recipients and the nominator will be invited to attend a celebratory reception with Executive Dean, Juli Wade.
- The awardees will also be featured on the SAS website.
Questions about the SAS Staff Excellence Recognition Program can be directed to
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.
To Submit a Nomination
The Nomination form will open on September 29, 2026 at 8:00 am.
The Nominator's will be asked to provide:
- Your Department
- Your Phone Number
- Indicate if nominating an Individual or Team
- Name and Department of the Nominee(s)
- Select the primary focus of the nominee’s contributions (student experience, operations of school, or impacted staff culture in the school, unit, and/or program)
- Nomination of a maximum of 500 words
The Nomination Form will be closed on October 30, 2026 at 5:00 pm.
Please Note: The nominator's first name, last name, and email address will be automatically recorded when the nomination is submitted.
Important: You will not be able to save an incomplete Nomination Form and return to it. Therefore, please be sure you have the required information and you have written and saved the nomination recommendation (it can be copied into the Nomination Form).