Awards

Honoring staff who demonstrate growth, initiative, and emerging talent.

This award honors a staff member who has demonstrated genuine curiosity and significant growth in their BU journey, or recently stepped into a new role or challenge with meaningful impact. Through initiative, creativity, or strong work ethic, this individual is expanding their horizons through contribution and excellence, and is making their mark, showing clear potential for continued success.

Award: Framed certificate from President Gilliam, BU token of appreciation.

Who it’s for:

• Staff who have embraced opportunities, grown their role, or made meaningful contributions.

Candidates demonstrate one or more of the following:

• Enthusiastically takes on new challenges or responsibilities.
• Demonstrates genuine curiosity in their work.
• Pursues personal or professional growth (e.g., workshops, education, certifications).
• Introduces helpful ideas or improvements.
• Builds strong relationships or uplifts newer peers.
• Creates a positive impact beyond their job description.
• Demonstrates our institutional shared values in their role.

Nominate your colleague here.

Celebrating individuals whose reliability, positivity, and collaborative spirit uplift the broader BU community.

This award recognizes someone whose energy, service, kindness, fairness, and collaboration uplift the community and create a welcoming environment. Through their reliability, inclusive mindset, and everyday efforts, they strengthen connections and help others thrive. They embody the spirit of respect, care, and teamwork that defines the BU community.

Award: $1,500 Prize, Framed certificate from President Gilliam, BU token of appreciation.

Who it’s for:

• Staff who consistently go above and beyond their responsibilities to foster teamwork, reliability, and a positive work environment.

Candidates demonstrate one or more of the following:

• Maintains a strong work ethic and reliability others count on.
• Fosters a welcoming, supportive, or inclusive workplace.
• Recognizes that both common ground and appreciating differences strengthens the community around them.
• Builds collaboration across departments or teams.
• Enhances daily operations through effort, care, or thoughtful contributions.
• Empowers a broad range of voices to be heard and supported in the workplace.

Nominate your colleague here.

Recognizing leaders and innovators who create lasting change and inspire others.

This award honors a staff member whose influence guides others—not through public praise, but through a consistent display of integrity, innovation, and inclusive leadership. Whether leading teams, mentoring peers, or improving systems behind the scenes, their work illuminates the path forward and creates lasting positive change.

Award: $2,500 Prize, Framed certificate from President Gilliam, BU token of appreciation.

Who it’s for:

• Staff who create lasting value by improving processes, supporting others, or envisioning new possibilities—through leadership or behind-the-scenes influence.

Candidates demonstrate one or more of the following:

• Leads by example and builds trust.
• Acts with integrity and transparency in both decision making and intentionality.
• Uses critical thinking to spark innovation or enhance systems in the pursuit of continuous improvements.
• Empowers teammates or supports professional development.
• Helps their department or the broader BU community evolve.
• Champions inclusivity.

Nominate your colleague here.

• All full-time and part-time staff with at least 6 months of service at BU in good standing, and with no faculty appointment of any kind are eligible.
• Staff are eligible to be nominated for multiple awards and may receive multiple nominations from different nominators.
• Each nominator may only submit one nomination per award category.
• Nominees may receive only one of the annual awards in any given year.

Nominate your colleague here.

• Any staff or faculty member may submit a nomination for a staff colleague, peer, or supervisee.
• Self-nominations will not be accepted.
• Each nomination form must include specific examples of the nominee’s contributions and how they align with the award values.
• Optional supporting statements from a colleague or supervisor may also be included. If you plan to submit supporting statements, you must have them ready to submit as a PDF file when submitting your form.
  • These supporting statements do not need to follow the same format as this form submission.
  • A maximum of five supporting statements are permitted, however more than one colleague may sign any one supporting statement.

Nominate your colleague here.

• Nominations open: Tuesday, February 3rd
• Nominations close: Monday, March 2nd
• Award Committee reviews anonymized submissions: Tuesday, March 3rd – Wednesday, March 18th
• Award recipients and nominees are notified: Friday, March 20th
• Award recipient recognition ceremony: Monday, April 6th, 2026 – 4:00pm

Nominate your colleague here.

• Name, Job Title, Department, and Email Address of both the nominee and the nominator.
• Answer 3 questions about nominee and their achievements (between 100-3,000 characters each)
  • Describe how the nominee embodies the values of this award. Provide specific examples.
  • What impact has the nominee had on their department, colleagues, or the BU community?
  • Share an example of how the nominee goes above and beyond their defined responsibilities.
• (Optional) Supporting statements from colleagues (See “Who Can Nominate?” for more information)

Nominate your colleague here.