BOR Staff Awards

Board of Regents' Staff Awards

The Board of Regents' Staff Awards represent the highest honor bestowed by the Board of Regents (BOR) for the achievements of exempt and non-exempt staff employees at System institutions. The awards are presented to employees who have demonstrated excellence in one of the five categories (click on each for more information):

Exceptional Contribution to the Institution and/or Unit to Which the Person Belongs (click for more)
This award is intended for staff members who:
- Contributed a creative and implemented approach to process improvements
- Supplied an original idea that contributed to the success of the unit/institution
- Are in a non-leadership position yet provided leadership, team building and/or facilitated a team or project that enhanced the organization
- Are in a leadership position and consistently grow their organization by mentoring and growing each of their subordinates
Outstanding Service to Students in an Academic or Residential Environment (click for more)
This award is intended for staff members who:
- Consistently makes a difference and impact in student lives
- Contributed an innovative, original idea that implemented and transformed an aspect of the “student experience”
Extraordinary Public Service to the University or Greater Community (click for more)
This award is intended for staff members who:
- Demonstrate a personal dedication to a project or cause that definitively improved the greater community
- Throughout their career have, in a collaborative and sustained manner, made a difference in the larger community
The award is based on a sustained record of service over a period of years carried out through the individual’s role(s) in the University rather than as a private citizen.
Effectiveness and Efficiency (click for more)
This award is intended to publicly recognize exemplary ideas that, when implemented, will serve to further the USM’s goal to continually increase the effective and efficient use of its resources. One award from the listed categories may be made for an exemplary initiative that has the potential to be implemented system-wide.
- Academic Transformation: Improved learning and a minimum cost savings of $10,000
- Administrative Transformation: Improved Effectiveness and efficiency resulting in a minimum cost savings of $10,000.
In addition to the regular materials, the packets of nominees from this category must include:
1. A brief description of the innovative initiative
2. Potential benefits
3. Magnitude (single/multiple institutions or system-wide)
4. Effectiveness and efficiency to be attained (including estimated cost and/or resource savings)
Inclusion, Multiculturalism, and Social Justice (click for more)
This award salutes the outstanding work of a USM staff member in their ability to build, nurture, and advance inclusion, multiculturalism, and social justice practices within their community. Their community may comprise their internal institutional community, their external institutional community, or a combination of the two. Review criteria include:
- Community engagement in diversity dialogue and education
- Examination and modification of current practices of one’s department/institution that support inclusion
- Implementation of initiatives that foster inclusion, multiculturalism, and social justice

In most categories, two awards will be given - one for an exempt employee and one for a non-exempt employee. In the Effectiveness and Efficiency category, the award can be given to two employees of the same classification. Each awardee will receive a $2,000 stipend and a commemorative plaque.

Eligibility (click for more)

Nomination Package Requirements (click for more)

Submission and Selection Processes

Please send completed packets to the Senate Office (senateoffice@umd.edu). If you would like guidance as you compile your packet, the Senate Office staff can assist with that, as well.

The Senate Staff Affairs Committee will collect submissions, fully consider all nominees, and make final recommendations to the President in January 2024. Finalists (nominators and/or nominees) will be invited to meet with a member of the President's Office in order to develop a letter of endorsement from the President, which will accompany all final packages. The President will select and forward the final campus nominees to the USM. The USM's staff awards committee will review nomination packages and submit recommendations for awards to the BOR. Recipients will be announced in July 2024 with a formal presentation of the award by the BOR in Fall 2024.