Staff Senate recently submitted a proposal to Executive Council to make a few updates to the University Awards. Staff Senators are often asked to review nominations for the University Awards each year and bring forth potential finalist to Executive Council Members. When reviewing nominations for the Star Staff Award this past spring, Staff Senators on this committee noticed some potential gaps in the Star Staff Award and began discussing ideas for improving the award. Some areas of discussion included the vast differences in many of the nominations due to staff having varying responsibilities, the increased number of nominations and the highly steep competition when choosing finalist. Melissa Day, Staff Senate Immediate Past Chair, took these concerns to campus administrators and as a result, was charged with submitting a proposal to Executive Council laying out staff concerns regarding the Star Staff Award and a way to make it better.
A committee was formed to create and submit the proposal to campus administration. The proposal included adding a second award, splitting the nominations up between SHRA and EHRA-Non Faculty and keeping the same cash amount for each recipient even though an extra award would now be given. Executive Council was very supportive of the proposal and unanimously gave the approval with minor changes regarding the name of the award.
Starting this next University Awards cycle, two new awards will be presented titled the “Purple and Gold Awards for Staff Excellence.” The Purple Award for Staff Excellence will go to a permanent EHRA-Non Faculty Employee and the Gold Award for Staff Excellence will go to an SHRA employee. Each recipient will also receive a $2,000 case prize and a plaque commemorating their accomplishment. These awards will replace the Star Staff Award. Recipients of the Star Staff Award in recent years will still not be eligible to receive the award this year as previously stated in the Star Staff award criteria.
Staff Senate would like to thank WCU Executive Council for their careful consideration in reviewing the Star Staff Award proposal and for their support in making these changes, allowing for more well-deserving staff opportunities to be recognized for their contributions to the University.