Nominations for 2012

The Vice President for Equity and Diversity and the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs announce a call for nominations for the 2012 President’s Award for Diversity. This annual award recognizes significant achievements of full-time faculty, staff and students toward developing a more culturally diverse, competent and inclusive university community.

Awards will be given in each of five categories for projects or activities that best reflect the implementation of unit and/or campus diversity goals. Names of awardees and their activities will be recognized at the President’s Diversity Award Dinner in January and published in the UAB Reporter.

Eligibility

Nominations are welcome from any member of the university community. Nominations are sought in five categories:

1. faculty
2. staff
3. undergraduate student
4. graduate student
5. professional student

Please note that faculty, staff and students must be full-time.

Award Criteria

Nominees in each category must have met the following criteria:

1. Significance

   How does the activity or project the individual engaged in address key areas of diversity such as recruitment, retention, campus or department climate, community outreach or other campus diversity goals?

2. Implementation

   How was the activity or project implemented? What strategies were used? What sources of funding were used to implement the activity or project? Projects or activities may be short term or may have occurred over several years.

3. Impact

   What has been the outcome of the activity or project? For example, has the activity or project
   • increased understanding or promoted constructive change on issues regarding diversity at UAB
   • influenced the success of students, staff or faculty of diverse cultural backgrounds
   • helped to bridge the gap between the university and diverse communities
   • helped to bring about greater equity in the university community.
   Any of these that apply as well as other indicators of impact should be described in the nomination letter.

Nomination Process

Any member of the UAB community is eligible to nominate any full-time UAB faculty, staff or student for the President’s Diversity Award. Nominations should be forwarded to the appropriate dean, vice president, library director or their designee for review.

A nomination packet should include the following:

1. A nomination form
2. A nomination letter (two page limit) from the nominator indicating the category and explicity addressing the three award criteria
3. A maximum of three letters of support from the nominee's colleagues, supervisors, students or persons knowledgeable about their work
4. Supporting evidence or examples of the nominee's work in meeting the award criteria (examples may include publications, program materials, curriculum outlines, diversity research projects, etc.).

Only complete nominations will be considered. Please note that it is the responsibility of the nominator and the nominee to provide the dean, vice president or library director with a complete nomination packet.

The dean, vice president and library director may establish a review process for the unit and designate an appropriate staff member to receive nominations. The review process should be publicized within the unit. Diversity Contact Officers and Affirmative Action Officers may participate in the review process. The dean, vice president or library director should recommend no more than one person for each award category (if such nominations meet the criteria) to the Vice President for Equity and Diversity.

The recommendation packet should include the following:

1. A cover letter from the dean, vice president or library director, and
2. nomination packet for each nominee recommended by the dean, vice president or library director.

Award Nomination Deadline

The deadline for 2012 awards nominations is Friday, October 21, 2011. All materials must be received by the appropriate dean, vice president or library director by 5:00 p.m. on this date. Please direct all questions to the appropriate dean, vice president, library director or their designee.

Please direct all questions to the following:

Thomas L. Alexander III
Special Assistant for Diversity to the Vice President of Student Affairs
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
1530 3rd Avenue South, HUC Room 133
Birmingham, AL 35294-1150

Email: communityweek@uab.edu
Tel: (205)975-9509
Fax: (205)934-8070