Awards

At the 1977 ACPA Convention in Denver, Colorado, The Commission for Housing and Residential Life decided to become active in recognizing outstanding achievements in residence life work. In a field where praise is often minimal, this activity has met an important need. Since that time, the Commission has presented awards to recognize excellence and outstanding contributions in the field of student housing and residence life. These include:

OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT STAFF MEMBER
This award is presented to an outstanding full-time graduate student employed in a paraprofessional staff position. Criteria include: performance and contributions in current graduate assistantship or professional position, contributions within nominee’s academic program, contributions to the Student Affairs profession, and other recognitions of achievement.

OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT STAFF MEMBER
This award is presented to an outstanding undergraduate student employed in a paraprofessional staff position. Criteria include contributions to and involvement in department, community and or university.

OUTSTANDING NEW PROFESSIONAL IN RESIDENCE LIFE
This award is given to an individual in the first three years of professional employment who has demonstrated outstanding contributions to her/his campus and/or the housing profession. Criteria include: Current performance, contributions to student affairs scholarship and or the profession, and contributions to the community.

OUTSTANDING EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL AWARD
Two categories – 4-9 years or 10 or more years

This award is given to an individual with 4 or more years of professional employment who has demonstrated outstanding contributions to her/his campus and/or the housing profession. Criteria include: Performance and contributions within current position, performance and contributions to student affairs scholarship, contributions to the profession and or contributions to the community.

EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE AWARD
In the tradition of National Residence Hall Honorary’s (NRHH) Spotlight Award, this award is given to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding contributions to her/his campus and/or the housing profession and is not eligible for any of the other awards; therefore, the nominee cannot be a student or professional staff member. Possible nominees could be food service personnel, night security staff, administrative assistants, or custodial staff. Criteria include: performance and contributions in current position, contributions to student success, contribution to community in which university or college is located.

EXCELLENCE IN SUSTAINABILITY
There are three categories of excellence in sustainability awards. This award is presented to a program, an individual, or a department that has demonstrated outstanding contributions toward sustainability on her/his campus and/or to the housing profession.

The individual award criteria for excellence in sustainability are: individual responsibility, integration, collaboration and assessment. Excellence in departmental sustainability criteria include: integration of sustainable practices, responsible growth and management, education and conservation. Criteria related to an outstanding initiative or program include: holistic nature of program or activity (advancing students’ understanding of the relationship between environmental stewardship, social justice and economic growth), relationship of initiative to the ACPA learning outcomes for sustainability, degree of collaboration, assessment and sustainability of initiative, embedded nature of practice and conservation. Note: Not all initiatives will address each criterion equally.

OUTSTANDING INNOVATION IN HOUSING AND RESIDENTIAL LIFE
This award recognizes and honors excellence for an innovative program, project, collaboration with student affairs or academic departments, or service sponsored by a housing or residence life department. The nominated program or initiative should demonstrate improvement in the quality of life for students, the efficiency in the department and/or the effectiveness in service delivery.

ACPA Awards Timeline:

• January 18 - February 5: Request for Award Reviewers
• January 18 - February 19: Request for Award Nominations
• February 22: Send information to Award Reviewers
• March 5: Deadline to Receive Feedback from Award Reviewers

To submit a nomination, please write a letter detailing the individual's, department’s or program's qualifications for a given award and send the nomination to the commission awards coordinator, Amy Franklin-Craft, at frankl96@msu.edu by February 19, 2010. Contained in this nomination should be the nominee as well as nominator contact information including: name, e-mail address and phone number.

Other helpful, but not required items a nominator may want to include are:

• a copy of the nominee's resume for the individual awards;
• up to three supporting letters for an individual or specific program's nomination in a given category.