Awarding staff

Balbir Gill | Is there a non-academic staff member you know who is inspiring, who always get things done and who consistently goes above and beyond their job? If you want to help them get the recognition you think they deserve, now is the time to put your pen to paper. The nomination deadline for the Principal's Award for Administrative and Support Staff is December 22, 2004.

Cindy Mancuso, Career and Placement Services advisor, conducting a workshop
Owen Egan

Five staff members will be presented with this award and a cash prize of $5,000 each at McGill's Fall convocation in 2005. These annual awards were created to recognize staff who have made outstanding contributions to the McGill community in areas such as customer service, innovation, creativity and problem-solving.

"We recognize the people who are in the trenches — the administration support staff who do their best to provide support for the students and faculty so that the research and teaching can be done," explains Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) Morty Yalovsky. While students will line up at convocation as a culmination of years of study, they will be accompanied by staff who will be recognized for their hard work as well. Yalovsky emphasizes that staff are given the awards at the Fall convocation to recognize that the work of non-academic staff is as integral a part of student life as that of the academic staff.

Facilities workers Eddy Morin, Brian Duheme, Laurent Cartin clearing away speedbumps for the winter
Owen Egan

Administrative and support staff, students and academic staff can nominate staff in five categories: management, clerical, technical, library assistants and trades and services. Eleven particular areas form the selection criteria, including creating innovative approaches, boosting morale, fostering teamwork, promoting efficiency, generating revenue and serving the community.

Nomination forms must be accompanied by a one-page statement of why you are nominating this person, such as if they made an exceptionally noteworthy contribution to McGill, showed initiative or even transcended their job description. The nominator needs to arrange for letters of support that identify the specific ways that the nominee is exceptional. The letters should come from representatives of diverse parts of McGill — student, staff and faculty — who can provide detailed examples of the ways the staff person has excelled. Winners will be announced in May 2005.

Full details and the nomination form are available online at www.mcgill.ca/vpadmin/awards/. If you have questions, you can also contact Lydia Martone at 398-7142, lydia.martone@mcgill.ca, or Joanne Graham at 398-3198, joanne.graham@mcgill.ca