President’s Staff Recognition Program

2019 Award Winners!

PURPOSE:

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).

Review our award recipients over the years.

AWARD CATEGORIES AND CRITERIA:

1. Staff Leadership Award (up to 3 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 one full-time or part-time employee within each employee category:

• Manager
• Professional Unionized Staff (AFT or CWA) – non-faculty
• Other Unionized Staff (CWA or IFPTE)

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 *

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2. Staff Service Excellence Award (one individual/group recipient)

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

The Staff Service Excellence 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 *

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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.

Eligibility:

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, he/she 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.

Nomination Process:

• Nominations may be made by students, staff or faculty members.  Employees may nominate themselves.  Nominations may be submitted electronically via the Employee Recognition Website  form or turned into the Office of Human Resources.
• Applications must be submitted by May 30, 2019. The review period is the previous twelve months. Applications are available online and in hard copy in the Department of Human Resources.
• 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!

Selection Committee:

• All nominations are reviewed by the President’s Staff Recognition Program Committee.
• The 2019 Selection Committee includes:
  • 2018 Award Winners: Tim Babasade, Cardacia Davis, Brian Goldberg, Doug Lawrence, Chuck McBreen, Jill Pierson,  and Cory Rosenkranz on behalf of the Roadrunner Collegiate Recovery Team
  • College Representatives: Virginia Galdieri (Co-chair, HR),  Brittany Williams-Goldstein (Co-chair, Office of the President), Janelle Ferraro (RSA), Nicole Morgan Agard (E.D.I.C.), Doreen Janes (CWA), Ramona Kopacz (AFT), Lori Zuccola (HR)
• The Committee is appointed by the President.
• Nominations are confirmed confidentially and as needed with unit supervisors/division heads.
• The committee makes final 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 for the Staff Team Project Award shall recuse themselves from voting on Team Award nominations.
• Award recipients serve on the selection committee the following year.

Recognition and Presentation:

• Individual and group/team 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 at the Annual Picnic, with formal presentation at the June 2019 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 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.

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2019 President’s Staff Recognition Award Winners:

Winners were announced at the College Picnic on June 13 and will be additionally recognized by the Board of Trustees in June.

2018 STAFF EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE AWARD WINNERS

This Award is presented to individuals that provided exemplary service by fostering cooperation, collaboration and open communication among college constituents.

• Asha Mehta, Academic Advisor/Nursing Program
• Joseph Niclas, Senior Admissions Counselor, Office of Admissions
• Banner 9 Implementation Group:  Purvi Parekh, Robin Keller, Arjun Bastola, Michael Bauer, Jeff Delos Santos, Jeff Rutkowski, Sandra Cohen, Bob Brown, Pratik Surti

2019 STAFF LEADERSHIP AWARD WINNERS

This Award is presented to individuals for assuming a leadership role and successfully effecting positive change.

• Valerie Hunter, Benefits Manager, Human Resources
• Fernanda Papalia, Interim Registrar, Office of the Registrar
• Damian D.J. Pinton, Coordinator Athletics Faculty/Budget Coordinator, Athletics

2019 STAFF TEAM PROJECT AWARD WINNER

This award is presented to a group of employees who achieved a significant outcome or completed a significant project. It is further focused on recognizing collaboration across the College’s units/departments.

Award Recipients Over the Years