Division of Research Staff Excellence Award

This award is intended to honor and recognize exceptional staff performance and significant sustained contributions, with a portion occurring during the last fiscal year.

Eligibility

DOR Staff Excellence Award (Individual) nominees must:

• be a full-time employee.
• have a minimum of two years of service in the Division or within their unit if the unit was recently moved under the Division, have a minimum of two years of working with the Division if centralized staff, or have a minimum of one year of service in the Division or within their unit if classified as a postdoctoral research associate.
• have an annual performance evaluation of meets expectations or higher.
• hold a title below that of Associate Vice President, Director, or equivalent.

Criteria

Nominees should:

• demonstrate a continuing commitment to excellence and development as a professional within the Division through personal actions related to mentorship, professional development, and/or leadership, or through advancement of others, promoting mentorship, professional development and/or leadership.
• demonstrate special qualities such as innovation, initiative, enthusiasm, and cooperation.
• make a positive impact within the Division and externally, through the sharing of ideas, outstanding and sustained improvements in customer service, processes and procedures, communication and/or reduction of administrative burdens.
• demonstrate a commitment to support Aggie core values (respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity, and self-less service) at Texas A&M, within the DOR and all stakeholders.

Award

• Monetary award of $500 and certificate.

Selection Process

The principal nominator (any employee of The Texas A&M University System) should complete and sign the nomination form. The form should be submitted with a letter of nomination describing how the candidate meets the criteria listed above. One, one-page letter of endorsement may also be submitted. Self-nominations will not be accepted. The DOR Awards Recognition Committee will review and select the award recipients using a numerical scoring system.

The nomination process will open on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, and nomination packets must be received by close of business on Friday, October 18, 2024. Awardees will be notified at a later determined date.

This award is intended to honor and recognize exceptional team performance and significant sustained contributions, with a portion occurring during the last fiscal year.

Eligibility Criteria

Impact should be evidenced by individual actions contributing to the team effort, to make a positive impact within the Division and externally through the sharing of ideas; outstanding and sustained improvements in customer service, processes and procedures, communication and/or reduction of service barriers; or implementation of new ideas or innovations as a team resulting in greater customer satisfaction or substantial cost savings.  Teams selected for this award will have demonstrated a team commitment to support Aggie core values (respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity, and self-less service) at Texas A&M, within the Division, and externally.

Team Definition:

• A minimum of two staff members shall constitute a team.
• A maximum team size is not specified.
• Team members include Division of Research staff as well as centralized staff.

DOR Staff Excellence Award Team nominees must:

• be full-time employees.
• have a minimum of two years of service in the Division or within their unit if the unit was recently moved under the Division, have a minimum of two years of working with the Division if centralized staff, or have a minimum of one year of service in the Division or within their unit if classified as a postdoctoral research associate.
• have an annual performance evaluation of meets expectations or higher.
• hold a title below that of Associate Vice President, Director, or equivalent.

Award

The team selected will be celebrated with a team event and individual certificates.

Selection Process

The principal nominator (any employee of The Texas A&M University System) should complete and sign the nomination form. The form should be submitted with a letter of nomination describing how the team meets the criteria listed above. Up to three, one-page letters of endorsement may also be submitted. Self-nominations will not be accepted. The DOR Awards Recognition Committee will review and select the award recipients using a numerical scoring system.

The nomination process will open on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, and nomination packets must be received by close of business on Friday, October 18, 2024.

Awardees will be notified at a later determined date.

Individual Staff Award

Five individuals were nominated by their colleagues and selected by a committee to honor the exceptional roles that they played within the Division of Research during 2024.

• Wesley Brashear, Assistant Research Scientist, High Performance Research Computing
• Lauren Douglas, Assistant Director, Office of Research Security and Export Controls
• Laura Hollingsworth, Assistant Director, Sponsored Research Services
• Hunter Parsons, Research Administrator III, Sponsored Research Services
• Konstantinos "Kostis" Pappas, Associate Director, Texas A&M Energy Institute

Team Award

The Maestro Development Team received the 2024 Team Award.

• MAESTRO Development Team
  • Mohammad Al-Banna
  • Abdullah Abu-Laban
  • Alejandro Alaniz
  • Justin Chandler
  • Allie Hill
  • Keerthana Rangisetty
  • Scott Self
  • Gideon van Tonder

Individual Staff Award

Nine individuals were nominated by their colleagues and selected by a committee to honor the exceptional roles that they played within the Division of Research during 2023.

• Christina Retzer, Program Manager, Texas A&M Institute of Data Science
• Eric Baskett, Research Administrator III, Sponsored Research Services
• Gabriel Rivera, Associate Director, Research Development Services
• Jennifer Singleton, Senior Research Compliance Coordinator, Research Compliance and Biosafety
• Laura Lyda, Research Administration Manager, Sponsored Research Services
• Leslie Krueger, Associate Director, Sponsored Research Services
• Sarah Oliphant, Research Administrator III, Sponsored Research Services
• Tressie Truett, Assistant Director, Conflict of Interest/Responsible Conduct of Research
• Victoria McDonald, Large Animal Division Supervisor, Comparative Medicine Program

Team Award

Sponsored Research Services received the 2023 Team Award for its support to the School of Public Health.

• The team's supervisor is Julie Bishop, Associate Executive Director.
• Team members include Tanya Alabsawi, Tamara Hardin, Shelly Hebb, Victoria Henry, Staci Holloway, Lesli Kerth, Cheryl Moore, Hailey Polson, Martha Tackett, Stephanie Towns and David Zachgo.
• In its nomination letter, the School of Public Health detailed the teams accomplishments:
  • Managed a complex portfolio of interdisciplinary sponsorship agreements.
  • Proved invaluable in extending one of the school’s largest grants.
  • Navigated the school’s rapid expansion, training several dozen new faculty.
  • Supported significant increases in the volume, scope and quality of external proposals, award transfers, contracts and funded projects.