Nomination Information
The LASER (Liberal Arts Staff Employee Recognition) Program is designed to recognize, reward, and retain exceptional staff employees within the College. Candidates for the award must be nominated by their unit heads and submit a portfolio that will be reviewed by their supervisors, unit heads, and a selection committee. The committee will make award recommendations to the Dean.
Eligibility: all staff members on standing appointments who have been in their current positions for at least three years; those who remain in their positions after achieving the first in-grade promotion may be nominated for a second one after an additional five years.
Criteria: rankings of “significantly exceeds expectations” on two of the three most recent performance reviews and no lower than “exceeds expectations” in the other year, demonstrated superior performance (knowledge, accountability and self management, teamwork, leadership, communication, problem solving), demonstrated ability to change the organization for the better (e.g., process improvements, increased unit productivity, innovative solutions that have been implemented, etc.), demonstrated and sustained commitment to professional development, and service to the University community.
Review committee: five members appointed by the Dean for three-year terms, of those, one current or former department head, one staff member grade 22 or up from the Deans’ Offices, two staff members representative of the entire staff (clerical, technical, administrative, supervisory, professional, exempt and nonexempt); HR Director or HR Coordinator serves ex officio; one to two members of the committee will cycle off each year; members must recuse themselves from reviews of those nominated from their home units.
Nomination: candidates for in-grade promotions shall be nominated by their respective department/unit head(s). The head may nominate one staff person in units with one to nine standing, staff employees. Units with ten or more standing staff employees may nominate two candidates. Institutes, Centers, Consortia, and the Psychological Clinic will be included with their associated departments/programs. The Deans’ offices will be treated as two separate units divided along the reporting lines to the Associate Deans.
Portfolio: compiled by the employee to be nominated by unit head; standardized format; includes letters of recommendation from supervisor and unit head (may be combined if unit head is the supervisor); performance reviews for the last three years; list of accomplishments and evidence that documents the significance of each; current resume; general information sheet; list of committees/teams on which candidate serves(served); list of professional development activities over past three years and assessment of return on such time spent.