Nominations for annual SPS awards due December 4

SPS Award Winners – 2015
Top row: Patricia Anderson and Ben Bingle.
Bottom row: Betsy Hull and Jennifer Kirker Priest

The Supportive Professional Staff Council is requesting nominations for the Presidential Supportive Professional Staff Award for Excellence.

This award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the university. All Supportive Professional Staff are eligible. Individuals who were nominated previously but did not win are eligible again.

Four awards in the amount of $1,500 will be presented. In addition, each recipient will receive a letter from NIU President Doug Baker and plaques in recognition of their accomplishments.

To be eligible to receive this award, an employee must be at least 50 percent time and may not hold rank or tenure.

An individual can only receive this award once, and must be currently employed as SPS at NIU at the time of the nomination as well as when the award is given in the spring.

The nominator is asked to address the following topics in a letter addressed to the SPSC Awards Committee:

1. Significant contributions made by this individual to the university. Be certain to address how the nominee has supported and/or advanced NIU’s strategic initiatives. Consider outstanding service, significance of contribution to NIU, support for the university’s mission and professionalism. It is helpful for nominators to indicate and differentiate between contributions which are directly job-related and contributions that go above and beyond the nominee’s regular responsibilities.
2. Evidence of commitment to her/his professional development.
3. Nominee’s involvement with committees or organizations at NIU, or within his or her profession.

A completed application packet consists of the Nomination Referral Form and four letters: a nomination letter and three letters of support. The support letters must address the above topics. Only these four letters will be considered for each nominee. Each nomination must include the name, title and department of the nominee and nominator’s name, title and department.

Each nomination must include the nominee’s and nominator’s names, titles and departments; nominators are responsible for submitted complete sets of nomination materials. There will be no extension of the deadline.

The Nomination Referral Form, nomination letter and three letters of support should be sent to Missy Gillis and Emily Hochstatter, co-chairpersons of the SPSC Awards Committee, and must be received in Room EB 130 of the Engineering Building by 4:30 p.m.Friday, Dec. 4. Nominees will be asked to forward vitas when they are informed by the committee of their nominations.

Awards will be announced by the president in February 2016, and awards will be presented at the April reception hosted by the president.

For more information, contact Gillis at (815) 753-6903 or gillis@niu.edu or Hochstatter at (815) 753-8510 or emurray2@niu.edu.