Nominations for the 2012 Western Region Awards are now open. The awards will be given at the 2012 CUPA-HR Western Region Conference in Sacramento, California.

The deadline to submit nominations is January 15, 2012.

Each year, the members of the Western Region are asked to nominate individuals and institutional members for regional recognition awards. Nominations for each award will be reviewed by the regional awards committee and presented to the regional board for consideration. Presentation of the awards is made at the annual Western Region Conference.

Questions about the awards and nomination process should be submitted to Penny Jenkins, Past Chair.

Please note: The Northwest and Southwest regions merged in 2008, to form the Western Region. Award criteria that require service to the Western Region recognizes service to the former Northwest and Southwest regions.

Hugh Avery Award of Distinction

This award, named after Hugh Avery, honors a member of the Western Region who meets the high level of personal attributes and human resource professional standards set by Hugh Avery. Hugh Avery was the national CUPA-HR president in 1972-1973. He worked at the University of Houston - Clear Lake (UHCL), and was active in the Texas Higher Education Human Resources Association, serving as its president in 1983. In 1991, the UHCL renamed its President's Distinguished Staff Service Award to the Hugh P. Avery Prize in honor of the late Hugh P. Avery, originator of the program, for his years of dedicated service to the university. The award recognizes and honors individuals who have served the university in an exemplary manner. It is the highest honor that UHCL can bestow on a non-faculty employee.

Criteria for the Hugh Avery Award:

• Long-term continued involvement in Western Region activities
• Demonstrated history of Western Region leadership
• Long-term extraordinary practitioner of the human resource profession
• Sense of humor
• Deep concern for the rights of all humans

Regional Lifetime Membership

This award honors human resource professionals who have retired or are about to retire, and who have made outstanding contributions to their institutions, to CUPA-HR national and/or to the Western Region. State chapters/liaisons are to notify the Western Region Board’s awards committee of any retirements that meet the above definition that occurred in the year prior to the 2011 Western Region conference.

The Roadrunner Award

This award identifies and recognizes a human resource professional who is a positive role model and has made significant contributions(s) to the profession, his/her campus and/or CUPA-HR. A significant contribution may include something innovative, service related, creative, etc.

Nominees for this award may be submitted by the CUPA-HR State Chapter/Liaison or member institutions nominating one or more individuals for consideration to the regional awards committee. If more than one person is nominated from a state, the regional awards committee will make the selection based on written information submitted.

Western Academy Membership

This award recognizes and honors those human resource professionals who have made significant contributions to higher education. Award criteria:

• To have been a participant in the affairs of the Western Region (or, until the year 2013, of a combination of the Western and the former Northwest or Southwest regions) for a minimum of five (5) years;
• To have made significant and meaningful contributions over a number of years to the cumulative knowledge and stature of the human resource profession; and
• To have been an acknowledged leader in the human resource profession in higher education.

Excellence in Human Resource Practices Award

Sponsored by VALIC

This award honors the achievements of college and university human resource professionals or teams at CUPA-HR member institutions in improving the quality of programs and services on their own campuses through effective human resource administration practices. Thanks to the generous support of VALIC, CUPA-HR is able to make a contribution of $750 to the institutional endowment or scholarship fund of the award recipient’s choice.

During selection, preference will be given to those achievements that have become or have the potential to become models for best practices for all of higher education human resources.

Each regional board will select a nominee for submission to the National Recognition Awards Committee. The national committee will then select an overall winner from among the nominees.

Nominations for the Excellence in Human Resource Practices Award must be submitted to the nominee’s regional board.