Established in honour of former University Secretary and General Counsel Harriet Lewis, the Harriet Lewis Team Award for Service Excellence recognizes excellence in service and support to students, faculty, staff and/or other service users. One award will be given annually.
The award consists of a $2000 purse, funded by the Office of the President, to be used for professional development for all members of the team, and a framed certificate for each member of the team. The team's name will also be engraved on an annual plaque that will be displayed in the team's home department, or in the department responsible for the team project, for one year.
Criteria
It is the nominator’s responsibility to provide information reflecting the achievements and exceptional nature of the nominee(s). Be thorough and factual and demonstrate how the nominee(s) excel(s) in each of the following criteria:
- Team demonstrates commitment to the highest level of service excellence to students/faculty/staff and/or other service users that exceeds what is normally expected in their position
- Team promotes a work environment that is respectful, supportive, collegial and inclusive
- Team works collaboratively and respectfully with other teams/unit by encouraging openness in sharing ideas, responsibility and finding appropriate solutions to challenges
- Team promotes the York spirit in terms of imagination, creativity, innovation and redefining the possible in service to York’s community (internal and external)
Eligibility
- Team members do not need to belong to one department as teams who are working on a limited-time project are also eligible for this award, provided that:
- At least 75% of the team members are full-time, continuing staff member at York that have been continuously employed for at least 2 years as of December 31, 2024
- Team members are members of a non-academic staff group (CUPE 1356, CPM, YUSA or IOUE)
- Team has a minimum of 3 staff members and a maximum of 15 staff members
Nomination File Requirements
The Chief Nominator is responsible for putting together a nomination file that consists of:
- Three Letters (3) Maximum
- One (1) lead nomination letter from the chief nominator
- Two (2) letters of support
- Team Background
- A list of the team members with a brief description of the role each person plays on the team (download and use this file to track team members and upload it to the online form when submitting your nomination package)
Please feel free to download this checklist to help you compile the nomination file and ensure that you have met all of the requirements before completing the online nomination form. NOTE: This checklist does not need to be uploaded with the nomination form and is for your reference only
Nomination Guidelines
- One of the letters must be from the nominee’s current Manager
- The chief nominator and one supporting nominator, OR two (2) of the supporting nominators must have received support from the entire team, not individual team members
- Each letter is from an individual author (multiple authors on a letter are not permitted)
- Self-nominations are not permitted
Letter Formatting and Content Guidelines
- Each letter does not exceed a total of three (3) pages , and the total number of pages of ALL letters combined does not exceed nine (9) pages
- Specific examples are used to describe how the nominated team:
- Contributes to the goals and objectives of their office, division and/or the broader York Community
- Has a significant impact on the operation of the University
- Meets or exceeds each of the award criteria
- Quotations from other persons are not permitted
- No acronyms are used in the letter
- Do not include any references or confidential documents such as employee performance
Excellence is everywhere at York. We encourage you to consider nominating a team from outside your home department.
Applications for the 2024 President's Staff Recognition Awards will open in Winter 2025.