Outstanding Employee Awards

Outstanding Employee Award recipients are officers of administration and classified employees nominated by their peers, supervisors, and others who interact with them in the workplace. They're reliable community members who demonstrate on-the-job excellence, embody community and inclusion, and inspire and motivate their colleagues.

Nominations for the 2024 awards are due April 12. Read the Around the O Workplace story.

2024 Award Nominations

Any UO employee can nominate an officer of administration (OA) or classified employee for an Outstanding Employee Award. Nominations are due April 12. 

Nominate a Colleague

The award ceremony and celebration will be held on May 22 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in the Lee Barlow Guistina Ballroom at the Ford Alumni Center. Mark your calendar now!

Outstanding Employee Awards recognize those who demonstrate excellence on the job, and:

  • exemplify key components of the university mission, and
  • critical thinking
  • effective reasoning
  • clear communication
  • creativity
  • act ethically
  • foster admiration among colleagues, and
  • model high performance standards.

Additional Considerations

The selection committee is looking for nominees who exhibit on-the-job performance that:

  • Builds community.
    Promotes a sense of community (within work group, department/unit, or across campus) by bringing groups/individuals together for a common purpose.
  • Promotes inclusivity.
    Welcomes and values diversity of opinions in discussions, demonstrates tolerance of others, considers accessibility, diversity and inclusivity in aspects of job assignments, enhances the campus climate, adheres to respectful workplace expectations.
  • Demonstrates leadership qualities.
    Provides on-going high quality performance, directs people to resources, sees work assignments from a big picture point-of-view, seeks to improve university operations, handles difficult situations and assignments well, personifies dependability.  [This criterion does not require supervisory responsibilities or formal supervisor designation. Any employee who displays leadership skills meets this criterion.]
  • Exemplifies mission.
    Embodies the UO mission statement, purpose, vision and values, advances the priorities of his/her unit and department through completion of work assignments, recognizes his/her role in achieving university goals, motivated by the university’s pursuit of being a comprehensive public research university committed to exceptional teaching, discovery, and service. 

Selection Process

Outstanding Employee Award recipients are selected by a committee comprised of OAs and classified staff.  Committee members are obtained from the following sources: Previous winners, SEIU representatives, OA Council, and OA and classified Senate representatives. The committee also includes a representative from Human Resources (Chief Human Resources Officer or their designee). University HR facilitates the selection process.

The committee makes selection decisions based on the information submitted on the nomination form. Award recipients are determined by their demonstrated ability to meet the established criteria as detailed and explained in the nomination materials.

At least one OA and one classified staff will be honored each year. The committee may choose to recognize multiple employees at its discretion.

The supervisor for each nominee is contacted by University HR to provide a supervisor response. This response is intended to substantiate a nomination and ensure that employees meeting performance expectations are considered for this prestigious honor. Employees with performance concerns may be excluded from consideration. The supervisor response is not used to collect additional information for the committee to consider in the selection process. Supervisors contribute to a nominees consideration by submitting a letter of support in accordance with the nomination process. 


Questions and Assistance

Email employeerecognition@uoregon.edu with questions about the Outstanding Employee Award program or if you need technical assistance submitting a nomination.