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Georgia Southern University’s
Awards of Excellence for Faculty & Staff

Nominations are closed.

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*If you are having difficulty with the nomination or application process, please email gsawards@georgiasouthern.edu.

The University’s Awards of Excellence are designed to identify and reward individuals that make outstanding contributions to the success of Georgia Southern University.

Through this celebratory awards process and ceremony, Georgia Southern will promote employee engagement by recognizing individuals whose performance and contributions align to the University’s values.

Event Details

  • Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
  • Time: 10:00 AM
    • Ceremony begins at 10:30 AM, lunch immediately following.
  • Location: Armstrong Campus
    • Ceremony: Fine Arts Building Auditorium
    • Luncheon: Armstrong Center Ballroom

The Awards of Excellence

The University’s Awards of Excellence mirror the values of our institution: Innovation and Discovery, Mobility, People, Academic Excellence, Collaboration, Transparency and Integrity, and Sustainability. For each value, there is an award for a faculty member and an award for a staff member. In addition, one award is dedicated to a team. A total of 16 awards are open for application. Each award honors one (1) Faculty Award and one (1) Staff Award, with exceptions noted under Academic Excellence and the Team Award.

University Awards Committee

The University Awards Committee is a subcommittee of the University Strategic Engagement and Alignment Committee.

  • Jazzkia Jones, Chair, Director, Office of Institutional Engagement
  • John Banter, Director, Office of Organizational Effectiveness
  • Finbarr Curtis, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
  • MacKenzie Dow, Coordinator, Office of Organizational Effectiveness
  • Lauren Draughorne, Coordinator, Office of Institutional Engagement
  • Jessica Hersey, PCard Administrator, Procurement & Logistical Services
  • Brian Koehler, Associate Dean of Curriculum and Student Success, Department of Biochemistry Chemistry & Physics
  • Bobbie “BJ” Newell, Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences
  • Will Olmstadt, Associate Dean and Professor, Office of the Dean of University Libraries
  • Dominique Quarles, Associate Vice President, Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership Development, and Engagement
  • Meca Williams-Johnson, Associate Dean and Professor, Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading

For questions, contact gsawards@georgiasouthern.edu.

Awards of Excellence

Georgia Southern University’s Awards of Excellence recognize faculty, staff, and teams whose contributions exemplify our institutional values – I.M.P.A.C.T.S. – and advance the mission of the University.

A total of 16 awards are open for application. Each award honors one (1) Faculty Award and one (1) Staff Award, with exceptions noted under the Team Award.


A total of 28 awards may be given annually: 12 Strategic Pillar Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff), 12 Institutional Values Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff), 2 Leadership Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff) and (1) Team Award will be given*

A total of 28 awards may be given annually: 12 Strategic Pillar Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff), 12 Institutional Values Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff), 2 Leadership Awards (1 Faculty, 1 Staff) and (1) Team Award will be given*

Award Categories

Each award aligns with one of Georgia Southern’s values.

Innovation & Discovery

University Award of Excellence in Innovation & Discovery

One (1) Faculty Award & One (1) Staff Award

This award honors a faculty and staff member who advance knowledge and foster transformative outcomes through creativity, collaboration, and strategic investment. Nominees may demonstrate excellence through academic research, applied inquiry, data-informed improvements, or creative initiatives that strengthen institutional processes, enrich scholarship, and positively impact stakeholders within and beyond the university.

Mobility

University Award of Excellence in Economic & Social Mobility

One (1) Faculty Award & One (1) Staff Award

This award honors a faculty and staff member whose work significantly strengthens economic, professional, or social mobility for individuals within or beyond Georgia Southern. Nominees create opportunities, provide mentorship, or implement programs that prepare individuals for workforce success, career advancement, and meaningful participation in a rapidly changing world.

People

University Award of Excellence in People & Community Development

One (1) Faculty Award & One (1) Staff Award

This award honors a faculty and staff member who demonstrate initiative, compassion, and dedication to improving the well-being of others. Nominees help build healthier, more collaborative environments by strengthening their teams, departments, or the broader university community and fostering a welcoming, supportive culture.

Academic Excellence

University Award of Excellence in Teaching

One (1) Faculty Award

This award honors a faculty member whose innovative teaching practices, scholarly engagement, and commitment to student success enhance the academic experience. Nominees demonstrate mastery of their discipline and employ evidence-based, high-impact strategies that inspire students and support the university’s mission of transformative education.

University Award of Excellence in Learning & Development

One (1) Staff Award

This award honors a staff member who develops and implements innovative learning strategies and impactful professional development opportunities. Nominees cultivate a culture of continuous growth that strengthens institutional capacity, advances co-curricular learning, and enriches the university community.

Collaboration

University Award of Excellence in Collaboration & Partnership

One (1) Faculty Award & One (1) Staff Award

This award honors a faculty and staff member who strengthens connections through shared governance and community or campus partnerships. Nominees bring people together to achieve shared goals, build bridges across departments or disciplines, and expand Georgia Southern’s reach through meaningful engagement.

Transparency & Integrity

University Award of Excellence in Leadership

One (1) Faculty Award & One (1) Staff Award

This award honors a faculty and staff member in an administrative role who demonstrate ethical leadership, transparent decision-making, and consistent accountability. Nominees foster trust, enable informed decision-making, and model integrity in ways that contribute measurable impact on the university community.

Sustainability

University Award of Excellence in Sustainable Stewardship

One (1) Faculty Award & One (1) Staff Award

This award honors a faculty and staff member who demonstrate responsible resource management and long-term thinking that promotes resilience and supports the continued success of the university and surrounding communities. Nominees integrate sustainability into teaching, research, operations, or planning to support thoughtful use of environmental, financial, and human resources.

Team Award

University Award of Excellence in Collective Impact

One (1) Team Award

This award honors a team, department, unit, or collaborative group whose collective efforts exemplify Georgia Southern University’s I.M.P.A.C.T.S. values. Teams nominated for this recognition demonstrate exceptional commitment to creating a positive campus environment, enhancing student and employee experiences, advancing institutional goals, and achieving measurable outcomes through shared purpose and innovation.

Outstanding Endeavor Award

John D. and Meryln J. Denitto Outstanding Endeavor Award

This award recognizes a Georgia Southern employee whose ideas and/or actions have made a significant aesthetic contribution to the University.

Strategic Pillar Awards

*Each award is given to one (1) Faculty member and one (1) Staff member

Student Success

The Student Success award is designed to promote and reward those who have demonstrated outstanding efforts to increase student success.

Teaching

This Teaching award will acknowledge those that improve student learning and prepare students to compete in the global marketplace.

Research

The faculty award for Research recognizes a faculty member for excellence in research and/ or creative scholarly activity. The staff award for Research recognizes one staff member for outstanding support in the conduct of research or who have advanced processes, methods and systems through research.

Inclusive Excellence

This award recognizes those individuals who generated valuable ideas that have helped to develop new or improved processes, methods, systems, programs or services for their team, their department, our University or the external community.

Operational Efficiency, Effectiveness and Sustainability

The Operational Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Sustainability Award was designed to recognize those with a commitment increase operational efficiency and effectiveness while maximizing financial capital and human resources to ensure the University’s long-term sustainability–investing in our people and processes to grow others.

Sustainability

The Sustainability Award was designed to recognize a conscientious steward of resources and supports the well-being of students, faculty, staff and communities, and maintains a leadership position in conservation efforts, promoting a a University-wide culture of environmental sustainability.

Community Engagement

This Community Engagement award is designed to give recognition to those who display outstanding community engagement in support of the University.

Institutional Values Awards

*Each award is given to one (1) Faculty member and one (1) Staff member

Integrity

The Integrity Award honors those who practice ethical awareness in decision making and demonstrate an on-going commitment to integral ethical behavior and practices.

Academic Excellence

This award recognizes those individuals who provide or promote educational opportunities or resources that stimulate students academic progression and graduation.

Discovery and Innovation

This award recognizes those individuals that promote creative scholarly activities, technologies and/ or environments that encourage innovative and problem-solving research collaboratives.

Openness and Inclusion

This award recognizes those who exhibit the ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion into practical action.

Sustainability

The Sustainability Award was designed to recognize those with a commitment to sustainability that is exceptional and best exemplifies dedication to the sustainability value of the University.

Collaboration

The Collaboration Award was designed to recognize and promote those who are dedicated to service to their departments, students, faculty, other departments on campus, and/ or the surrounding community through communication, innovation, integrity and inclusion.

Leadership Award

*Each award is given to one (1) Faculty member and one (1) Staff member

This awards recognizes administrator-level employees (e.g. Program Directors, Assistant/Associate Department Chairs, Department Chair, Directors, Executive Directors, Managers) who, through their extraordinary leadership over the last year, demonstrated exemplary responsive leadership to students, colleagues and other customers of Georgia Southern University.  The award recognizes leaders who, in addition to fulfilling their administrative and managerial roles with dedication and creativity, demonstrate vision and an outstanding commitment to excellence. Nominations should describe specific actions taken by this leader and how these actions benefited faculty, staff, students and/or the surrounding community. The actions by the nominee must reflect the following six values of Georgia Southern: Collaboration, Academic Excellence, Discovery and Innovation, Integrity, Openness and Inclusion and Sustainability. 

Team Award

*one (1) team award

The Team Award recognizes a group of individuals comprised of three or more employees (staff and/or faculty) that contribute to one of the five strategic imperatives while demonstrating one of the six core values to help the University be the best place to work, learn, and succeed.

John D. and Meryln J. Denitto Outstanding Endeavor Award

This award recognizes a Georgia Southern employee whose ideas and/or actions have made a significant aesthetic contribution to the University.

Eligibility

  • An employee must have been employed by Georgia Southern University for a minimum of three years as of December 1, 2025.
  • An employee must have received a rating of “meets expectations” or higher on the previous two performance evaluations.
  • All personnel, up to Associate Vice Presidents and Associate Deans, are eligible for nomination for a University Award of Excellence.
  • Directors, Chairs, Associate Directors, and Associate Chairs are eligible for the Leadership Award only.
  • An employee who has won a particular award in the past three years is not eligible to compete for that same award.
  • If nominated for more than one award, a faculty/staff member must select one preferred award to move forward in the process. Each faculty/staff member may submit only one application package per academic year for an Award of Excellence.

Objectives of the University Awards of Excellence 

  • To provide both faculty and staff initiated rewards;
  • To recognize and promote positive relationships and behavior patterns supportive of the individual, team, departmental, and/or institutional priorities and goals;
  • To provide timely recognition to employees through immediate or planned recognition;
  • To provide various types and levels of recognition based on the significance and impact of contribution;
  • To inform supervisors and faculty about the variety of monetary and non-monetary reward options available to recognize an outstanding employee; and
  • To distribute awards through a Spring ceremony.

The Nomination Process

Any employee may nominate another employee regardless of division, faculty/staff status, and supervisory or peer relationships. Nominators can nominate as many faculty and staff as they wish. Employees are allowed to self-nominate, but will need to obtain a letter of recommendation from another employee or supervisor. If nominated for more than one award, a faculty/staff member must select one preferred award in order to move forward in this process. As such a faculty/staff member will only submit one application package per academic year for an Award of Excellence. Consequently, a faculty/staff member cannot receive multiple awards in the same year. All submitted nominations will be reviewed by the University Strategic Engagement and Alignment Committee using award-specific rubrics.

Faculty, Staff, Leader and Team nominations will be submitted via the online portal. See the “Nominate” buttons at the top of this page to submit any form of nomination. If you have any questions, please email gsawards@georgiasouthern.edu.

What to expect during the process:

  • Meet all eligibility requirements.
  • Submit the required list of application materials.
  • Follow the schedule of deadlines for nominations and committees’ selection decisions.
  • Answer open-ended questions, both the  nominees and supporters will answer.  
  • Individual winners will receive a professional development stipend award along with a medallion, excluding team awards. A plaque is presented for the team award.
  • All current and previous award winners will be listed on the University Awards of Excellence website (pictures, bios).
  • Attend the University Awards of Excellence Ceremony on Friday, April 10, 2026 at 10:00 AM in Savannah, GA at the Armstrong Fine Arts Auditorium. The dress code is business casual.

Nomination Period/Application Submission Schedule for 2025-2026

Now – January 23, 2026

Nominations open for both individual and team awards.

Nominations

  • Nominations are open December 15, 2025 – January 23, 2026
  • Those nominated by a peer will have until February 2, 2026 to accept and complete their application

Verification of Eligibility

  • An employee must have been employed by Georgia Southern University for a minimum of three years as of December 1, 2025.
  • An employee must have received a rating of “meets expectations” or higher on the previous two performance evaluations.
  • All personnel, up to Associate Vice Presidents and Associate Deans, are eligible for nomination for a University Award of Excellence.
  • Directors, Chairs, Associate Directors, and Associate Chairs are eligible for the Leadership Award only.
  • An employee who has won a particular award in the past three years is not eligible to compete for that same award.
  • If nominated for more than one award, a faculty/staff member must select one preferred award to move forward in the process. Each faculty/staff member may submit only one application package per academic year for an Award of Excellence.

Application Submission

Application Submission

Committee Accepts Application for Review

  • The committee review period will run from February 2, 2026 to February 16, 2026

February 9, 2025

Applications Packets for nominees/team awards must be submitted by February 9

February – March 2025

Review Process by Committees
Award Recipients Names Forwarded to President’s Office

April 18, 2025

Georgia Southern University Excellence in Awards Celebration

No incomplete or late forms will be accepted.

Application Packets & Components

After receiving notice from the University Awards committee, the nominee will accept and complete the nomination. Nominees may only submit one application per academic year. If nominated for more than one Award of Excellence, the nominee chooses which award to pursue. Ideally, all documents should use 12-point Times New Roman or similar font with 1” margins to ensure readability. Application packets should not exceed 10 pages. The nominee should submit an application package comprising the following elements*:

For Those Nominated by a Colleague

  • Nominator & Nominee Narrative should include answers to the following statements (2 pages maximum):
    • How does the nominee…
      • Achieve excellence in the award area?
      • Develop, utilize, and share innovative skill sets related to the award area?
      • Continually develop and broaden expertise in the award area?
      • Please provide additional relevant information about contributions to the award area.
  • Resume/Condensed Curriculum Vitae (6 pages maximum). *Submitted by nominee.
  • Please provide additional supporting evidence (examples: photos, thank you notes, news articles, certificates, brochures, etc.). (5 pages maximum). *Submitted by nominee. 

For Those Self-Nominating

  • Nominee or Nominator Narrative should include answers to the following statements (2 pages maximum):
    • How does the nominee…
      • Achieve excellence in the award area?
      • Develop, utilize, and share innovative skill sets related to the award area?
      • Continually develop and broaden expertise in the award area?
      • Please provide additional relevant information about contributions to the award area.
  • Resume/Condensed Curriculum Vitae (1 – 6 pages maximum).
  • One to two reference letters that speak to the particular award selected for nomination. It is the responsibility of the nominee to provide these guidelines to those who write their letters. It is the responsibility of the nominee to collect and upload letters as part of the application packet. These letters are open format, limited to two pages. Letters of recommendation may want to address how the nominee achieves some of the following points:
    • How does the nominee…
      • Achieve excellence in the award area?
      • Develop, utilize, and share innovative skill sets related to the award area?
      • Continually develop and broaden expertise in the award area?
  • Please provide additional supporting evidence (examples: photos, thank you notes, news articles, certificates, brochures, etc.)

*If additional information is needed to help review a nominee’s application, the nominee will be contacted or emailed directly by the committee chair.

Awards Committee Review Structure

The University Strategic Engagement and Alignment Committee (USEAC) will conduct all reviews for the Faculty, Staff, and Team awards. The USEAC is composed of 21 divisional representatives selected by their Dean or Executive Leadership. All 11 colleges, including the University Libraries, and 10 divisions are represented on the USEAC. The 21 representatives will be separated to form the Faculty Award and Staff Award subcommittees. The Team Award and Endeavor Award will be reviewed by the full USEAC representative committee.

Separate Committees

Faculty Awards Review Committee

  • Norton Pease
  • Steve Rossi
  • Rand Ressler
  • Meca Williams-Johnson
  • Finbarr Curtis
  • Dina Walker-DeVose
  • Naronda Wright
  • Brad Sturz
  • Theresa Duggar
  • Will Olmstadt

Staff Awards Review Committee

  • Ryan Hall
  • Melissa Goodman-Gast
  • Jessica Hersey
  • Tajae Francis
  • Adrianne McCollar
  • Lisa Bridges
  • DeAnn Copeland
  • Brian Koehler
  • Bobbie Newell
  • David Calamas

Rubrics

The updated evaluation rubrics for all 2025–2026 Awards of Excellence categories are now available for review. These revised rubrics align with the University’s values – I.M.P.A.C.T.S. – and reflect the updated award criteria to ensure a clear, consistent, and equitable review process for all applicants.

Faculty Award Rubrics

Staff Award Rubrics

Team Award Rubric

Outstanding Endeavor Award Rubric

University Awards Feedback