Staff Awards

Staff Awards were introduced in 1989 by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wilf Malcolm, when they were initially separate academic and general staff merit awards, administered by separate advisory committees to Council. They were combined into a single Staff Merit Awards process in 1994. From their inception they comprised a certificate and $3,000 for an individual award and up to $10,000 for a team award and remained so until 2006 when they were increased to $5,000 and $15,000 respectively.

In 1998 two new separate awards were introduced - a Vice-Chancellor's Medal for Excellence in Teaching and a Staff Citation. Neither award had a monetary component and the Staff Citation was only awarded three times. These awards were initially administered by the Vice-Chancellor's Office but a review of committees in 1999 saw their administration handed over to Human Resource Management Division, along with the Staff Merit Awards.
In 2006 the Staff Awards Committee reviewed the entire awards process and recommended to the Vice-Chancellor that the separate awards be replaced by a single Staff Awards process comprising awards for Teaching, Research and Administrative Excellence to better reflect the key activities of a university and to provide a more consistent approach.

In 2010 the Teaching and Learning Plan was approved and adopted. Goal 1.3 of the Teaching and Learning Plan which impacts on the staff awards system states:

Recognise and reward effective teaching, postgraduate supervision, and innovation and excellence in eLearning through the provision of awards for outstanding teaching, at School/Faculty and University level; awards for postgraduate supervision and innovation and excellence in eLearning at University level and the provision of support for candidates for national and international teaching awards.

The KPIs associated with this goal are:

By the end of 2010 programmes of teaching excellence awards are established in all Faculties and School of Māori and Pacific Development.
By the end of 2011 the University establishes a programme of annual awards that recognises excellence in postgraduate supervision.
By the end of 2011 the University establishes a programme of annual awards that recognises innovation and excellence in eLearning.

In addition to this plan the Human Resource Management Division has administered the Health and Safety Excellence Award since its inception in 2001 as a requirement for the annual ACC Audit for accreditation to the Partnership Plan. The Director of Human Resources recommended that administration of the award should be part of the annual staff excellence awards process.

The Vice-Chancellor approved the additional awards and revised nomination processes for teaching excellence awards for 2010, with Postgraduate Researcher Support and eLearning excellence awards being introduced in 2011.

Teaching awards are made in recognition of sustained excellence in teaching over a period of at least six years.

Research awards are made to early career researchers (up to seven years after the conferment of their PhD, in alignment with the Marsden Fund definition of emerging researchers) in recognition of excellence in research.

The Administration category is intended to cover a broad range of activities including service to clients and the community, completion of significant projects, sustained excellence over several years and any other significant contribution to the life of the University which deserves formal recognition. They are applicable to staff in areas of administration, management and technical service.

Nominations are generally called for in September (August for Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards) and the submission deadline is 31 October each year. The committee meets to select recipients in mid November. Nominations for all award,s apart from the Health and Safety Excellence Award, may be initiated by individual staff or students and are subject to the endorsement of the appropriate senior manager (Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Deans, Pro Vice-Chancellors, Assistant Vice-Chancellors or Heads), who then forwards the completed nomination to the Staff Awards Committee. It is not expected that staff will nominate themselves and nominations are generally made without refererence to the individual or team concerned. Note that you can download and prepare a nomination at any time during the year in anticipation of the September call for nominations.

Further information about staff awards along with nomination forms follows. If you have any queries or require assistance with a Staff Award nomination please contact Mike Bell, Human Resource Development Advisor.

Committee Administration

Directory of Committees and Rules of Procedure (p109)
Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards
Purpose, process and criteria for Staff Awards

Nomination Forms

Teaching Excellence Staff Award Nomination Form *
Teaching Excellence in a Kaupapa Māori Context Staff Award Nomination Form *
Nola Campbell Memorial eLearning Excellence Staff Award Nomination Form
eLearning Excellence Staff Award further information
Early Career Research Excellence Staff Award Nomination Form
Research Postgraduate Supervision Excellence Staff Award Nomination Form
Health and Safety Excellence Staff Award Nomination Form
Administrative Excellence Staff Award Nomination Form

* Note that the teaching excellence award nominations are selected through Faculty Teaching Excellence Award processes and the forms are here for Faculties and School of Māori and Pacific Development use.