President’s Staff Recognition Program

The President’s Staff Recognition Program recognizes excellence and extraordinary effort demonstrated by full-time and part-time non-temporary Ramapo College employees (non-faculty).

1. Staff Leadership Award (up to three recipients)

Awarded to a Ramapo College staff member who, in that year, assumed a leadership role and successfully effected positive change.

Staff Leadership is awarded to up to three full-time or part-time employees (non-faculty). The Staff Leadership category recognizes individuals who have demonstrated leadership while contributing to building an effective and positive work environment that strengthens teamwork, improves efficiencies, and achieves a service-oriented approach to the work of the College. Individuals nominated should demonstrate at least three of the following qualities:

• Successfully leading a team to complete a significant institutional project
• Motivating others to perform at an exceptional level through morale building exercises or exemplary work
• Identifying a specific recurring issue on campus and implementing practices to resolve the issue or leading the effort to develop a response
• Assuming additional assignments and challenging projects to advance the goals of the unit/division/College
• Going above and beyond to ensure the health, safety and security of faculty, staff and/or students under extraordinary circumstances
• Others as appropriate

* Please describe three specific examples that illustrate how the nominee demonstrates the qualities listed above *

When possible, please include if your examples are from 2020, 2021 or both 2020-2021

2. Staff Excellence in Service Award (up to three individual/group recipients)

Awarded to an individual or recognized group that, in that year, provided exemplary service to college constituents.

The Staff Excellence in Service category recognizes individuals, units/departments or other recognized groups who foster cooperation, collaboration and open communication. Individuals or recognized groups nominated should demonstrate at least three of the following qualities:

• Excellent constituent service which met a special need of a student, visitor, colleague or faculty member evidenced by feedback from the community
• Sincere cooperation, positive attitude and exceptional willingness to assist others
• Action or behavior which enhanced the morale of others
• Willingness to go beyond the limits of a job description to further the goals of the College
• A commitment to the spirit of diversity and behavior which demonstrates inclusion of persons who are members of traditionally underrepresented groups
• Outstanding acts of public service above and beyond the duties and responsibilities of the employee’s position which reflect credit upon Ramapo College of New Jersey
• Others as appropriate

*Please describe three specific examples that illustrate how the nominee demonstrates the qualities listed above *

When possible, please include if your examples are from 2020, 2021 or both 2020-2021

3. Staff Team Project Award (one cross- division group recipient)

Awarded to a group of three or more staff members from at least two college divisions who achieved a significant outcome or completed a significant project.

The Team Project Award is focused on recognizing collaboration across units/departments. In that spirit, staff members from at least two divisions must contribute to the team project. The Divisions of the College are: Academic Affairs, Administration & Finance, Enrollment Management & Student Affairs, and Institutional Advancement.

Nominated teams must demonstrate the following:

• Completion of a significant outcome or project in support of one of the four strategic plan goals: (a) Advance Academic Excellence & Engagement, (b) Enhance Financial Strength & Institutional Sustainability, (c) Improve Internal & External Relations and Communications, and (d) Cultivate & Support Diversity & Inclusiveness.
• Collaboration: The team will have demonstrated strong collaboration skills and balanced ownership across all the team members to achieve the outcome or project
• Breaking down explicit or implicit barriers: The team will have modeled open-minded thinking in building their team and identifying the best available talent across the college to meet their objective(s)
• Creative Thinking: The team will have adopted a “blank piece of paper approach” and embraced ambiguity as they pursued their project
• Team Composition: The team will have reflected the diversity of the college.

Project Award Example: A project completed by staff from Human Resources, ITS, and Events & Conferences would qualify because the units represent the three divisions. A project completed by Admissions, Residence Life, and Student Conduct would not qualify because all of the units are within the Enrollment Management & Student Affairs Division.

• Nominations may be made by students, staff or faculty members.  Employees may nominate themselves.  Nominations should be submitted electronically via the Nomination web forms (see links above).
• The application process will open on Tuesday, April 27, 2021 and remain open through Friday, May 14, 2021.
• Would you like to nominate someone for an award but would like some support in authoring or submitting the nomination form? No problem, contact any Committee member (see below) and we will provide you with assistance!

The President’s Staff Recognition Program Committee will review the eligibility of nominees in accord with the following criteria. Nominees must:

1. be full-time permanent staff or part-time non-temporary staff (non-faculty)
2. be employed in current position for at least one full year at the time of nomination

** Once an employee is recognized for a President’s award, the employee is ineligible to be awarded for five years.

**Within the five years, individual award recipients shall not be excluded from being recognized as a member of a group or team (Staff Excellence in Service and the Staff Team Award). Also, members of the Staff Team Award are eligible for individuals awards within the five-year time period.

• All nominations are reviewed by the President’s Staff Recognition Program Committee.
• The 2020 & 2021 Committee includes:
  • 2019 Award Winners: Asha Mehta, Fernanda Papalia, Damian “D.J.” Pinton, and Purvi Parekh & Pratik Surti (on behalf of the Banner Implementation Team)
  • College Representatives: Virginia Galdieri (Co-chair, Human Resources), Nicole Morgan Agard (Co-chair, E.D.I.C.), Stephanie Scheeler (Co-chair, Office of the President), Virginia Bonnett (CWA), Martha Ecker (AFT), John Thompson (IFPTE), Janelle Ferraro (RSA)
• The Committee is appointed by the President.
• Nominations are confirmed confidentially and as needed with unit supervisors/division heads.
• The Committee makes recommendations to the President, who then makes the final selection.
• Committee members are not permitted to submit nominations for awards.
• Committee members shall maintain the confidentiality of all nominations.
• Committee members nominated for Staff Leadership or Staff Excellence awards shall have the option to decline the nomination or shall recuse themselves from committee service.
• Committee members nominated as part of a Staff Team Project award shall recuse themselves from voting on Team Award nominations.
• Award recipients serve on the selection committee the following year.

• Individual recipients will be recognized with a personalized inscribed plaque in addition to having their name inscribed on a college-wide plaque that will be displayed on campus.
• Recipients will be announced with formal presentation at the June Board of Trustees meeting.
• Individual and group recipients shall receive a summary of their nominations/noted contributions in the form of a letter from the President copied to their personnel file.
• Recipient names and photos (when available) will be included on the web.
• Individual and group nominees shall be notified of their nomination after the award recipients are announced.

The program is reviewed annually based on the availability of resources and the merit of the nominations.

Click here for a list of previous award winners.