Excellence in Professional Service

The award process is coordinated through the Office of the President. Nominators are encouraged to consult with the Office of the President about candidate eligibility prior to preparing a nomination; questions about dossier preparation are welcome at any time.

SUNY Oneonta may submit two nominations to this program annually.

Eligibility

Each award has program-specific eligibility criteria; nonetheless, there are eligibility criteria common to all. Regardless of program, nominees must have completed three academic years of full-time appointment within the previous five years (years do not need to be consecutive) at the nominating campus prior to the year of nomination.

General restrictions on eligibility

There are also circumstances that preclude nomination regardless of the program. The following are special conditions that limit eligibility and these restrictions apply to all programs:

• Individuals holding Distinguished Faculty Rank: Distinguished Librarian, Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Service Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor – may not be nominated for an Excellence Award in any of the categories;
• Recipients of an Excellence Award may not be nominated for another Excellence Award within a five-year interval;
• Recipients of an Excellence Award may not be re-nominated for an award in the same category;
• Individuals holding qualified academic appointments (as defined in SUNY Board of Trustees policies: individuals holding the title of lecturer or titles of academic rank preceded by the designation “visiting” or other similar designations) may not be nominated;
• The chief campus officer for academic, student, or administrative affairs, or persons serving in these capacities, may not be nominated for an Excellence Award. Other exclusions include the following (but not limited to) as well as other comparable titles: Direct reports to the President or Chancellor, Vice Chancellors and above, Vice Presidents and above, Vice Provosts and above, Senior Counsels and above, and the Deans of the College of Ceramics at Alfred University and the New York State Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, of Human Ecology, of Industrial and Labor Relations, and of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University;
• Individuals should not be nominated in the same season for promotion to Distinguished Faculty rank and an Excellence Award in the same category (e.g., an individual should not be nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Professorship and an Excellence in Teaching award); and
• Posthumous nominations are ineligible.

Eligibility criteria

Candidate Background – Candidates must presently be serving in full-time professional service capacities (not necessarily titles) with more than 50 percent of their assignment in non-teaching services. The latter include academic administration, business affairs, student affairs, institutional support technologies, instructional and research support technologies and directors of campus libraries. It is the intent that the Professional Service award be reserved for staff. Full-time faculty (as defined in the eligibility criteria for Faculty Service) are not eligible. In addition, support staff not serving in professional class titles are ineligible for nomination, but are eligible for nomination in the Classified Service Awards category.

Length of Service – Candidates must have completed at least three academic years in full-time appointment within the previous five years (years do not need to be consecutive) at the nominating campus prior to the year of nomination. Please note, promotion within the same department does not preclude a person from being nominated.

Restrictions – Individuals serving in the classified services are ineligible for nomination (one indicator: positions paid on an hourly rather than salary basis are generally in the classified services).
Please note that for the Community Colleges, individuals serving as heads of divisions (frequently referred to as Deans) may be nominated predicated on their fulfilling the eligibility and selection criteria. However, for this sector, the title “Dean of Instruction” frequently refers to the individual who serves as the head campus academic officer. Where this is the case, the individual may not be nominated.

Special Considerations for the Professional Service Award
Exclusively for the Excellence in Professional Service Award, nominations may be made by not-for-profit agencies serving a State University function at one of the organizational units (e.g., the campus Research Foundation offices, etc.) of the State University of New York. Any such nominations count toward the total allocations permissible for the nominating campus. For the purposes of the Professional Service Award, the State University System Administration is considered a campus. It may make one Professional Service nomination drawn from the aggregate of eligible staff at the System Administration, the State University Construction Fund, SUNY Charter Schools Institute, and the SUNY Research Foundation.

The Chancellor can make nominations for additional Professional Service Awards, from either a specific campus, the State University System Administration, the State University Construction Fund, SUNY Charter Schools Institute, and the SUNY Research Foundation provided the individual meets the eligibility requirements.

Local Guidelines: How to Prepare a Nomination

Nominators' Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the nominator(s) to complete and submit all required and allowable support file data. This includes the electronic submission of the following documents to awards@oneonta.edu by 12 p.m. on Friday, January 10, 2025:

• One complete PDF dossier containing all required materials
• One MS Word document of the maximum five-page summary
• One MS Word document of the nominee’s curriculum vitae or resume

SUNY will announce winners in April or May; however, due to timing factors, only award recipients and their campuses will be notified.

Nominator Dossier Preparation

The dossier will contain all required materials in the sequence below, with a table of contents. Incomplete nominations will automatically be disqualified.

1. Table of contents.
2. The one-page abstract, signed by the nominator(s), must highlight the nominee’s most outstanding accomplishments, organized by the specific SUNY selection criteria. Also, it must briefly describe the campus support for the nomination.
3. The Summary Presentation (five-page summary) should include direct quotes from the letters of support and must speak specifically to each of the selection criteria in the SUNY guidelines as follows:

   For Excellence in Professional Service, nominees must be individuals who have repeatedly sought improvement of themselves, their campuses and ultimately the State University and, in doing so, have transcended the normal definitions of excellence. At all position levels, nominees shall be those individuals who can serve as professional role models for a University system in the pursuit of excellence. The following criteria shall be used in selecting persons for nomination of this award:

   Within the Position Description – The candidate must perform superbly in fulfilling the job description for the position held; and

   Beyond the Position Description – The candidate should also demonstrate excellence in professional activities beyond the parameters of the job description. The ideal candidate will satisfy the standards in a creative and innovative fashion while demonstrating flexibility and adaptability to institutional needs.
   Consideration should be given to capabilities and accomplishments in the areas of leadership, decision-making and problem-solving. Evidence in this category includes, but is not limited to, professional recognitions, initiation of ideas, development of proposals, and committee activities.

   The format of the Summary Presentation (five-page summary) is significant because the document, if approved by the local selection committee, will be forwarded to SUNY System Administration. Formatting requirements include:

   • The heading must indicate the name, rank and college of the nominee and the nominator as follows:

     Name, Rank, SUNY Oneonta, nominated for the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service by Name, Title, SUNY Oneonta.

   • The final paragraph must repeat the nomination and summarize its salient points.
   • Avoid the use of first-person.
   • Single-space with at least 11 point font size and set margins to at least 1".
   • Please do not use acronyms or language which will not be understood by external reviewers.
4. The required curriculum vitae or resume must be reasonably detailed, specifying the most recent (with last-modified date) and required data (date of appointment to the SUNY system, highest rank attained and date of appointment to that rank).
5. Recent (ideally within one year) letters providing strong evidence of the extraordinary aspects of the nominee’s service activities and addressing the criteria for this award. These shall be limited to no more than five (5) letters, some of which may be from individuals not employed on campus. SUNY Oneonta peers should be at the nominee’s position level or higher and should not also be listed as nominators for the dossier. In addition, no more than two (2) letters of support from students (preferably former students) may be included – especially if the nominee is in a position that involves direct student contact.
6. Documentation supporting excellence in professional service will be used only for the on-campus evaluation. It must contain a complete list of professional activities, publications and/or other information pertinent to the nomination. Please note which activities are expected of all staff in the nominee’s organizational unit, and which exceed typical expectations within the position. Please note time frame and extent of involvement.

Last updated 9/27/2024

SUNY Guidelines
Rating Sheet

Incomplete nominations will automatically be disqualified.