Citations of Excellence

Citations of Excellence

Applications are now closed.

UC Davis Staff Assembly’s annual Citations of Excellence awards program provides recognition for non-represented UC Davis and UC Davis Health individual staff and staff teams, who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in one of the following areas:

  • Health & Wellbeing 
  • Innovation
  • Mentorship
  • Research
  • Service
  • Supervision
  • Teaching
  • Staff Team Award
  • Staff Team Award for Health & Wellbeing
Requirements for Nomination
  • Nominees for awards must be UC Davis non-represented, career staff members (past probationary period of employment status), in good standing (not in process of corrective action), and meet the outlined criteria for each award. 
  • Nominations should be submitted by three campus employees with knowledge of a staff member’s outstanding achievement. Two of the nominators for the Supervision Award must be from employees who work under the supervision or lead of the nominee.
  • Staff members selected for awards must be active employees at the time the award is given as the monetary award is distributed via payroll. If an award winner resigns or retires, they will not receive funds for the award. 
  • If the nominee received an award or honorable mention last year, they are not eligible to receive an award or honorable mention for the same project/service this year.
  • Nominating and soliciting signatures for oneself is not allowed.   
  • Nomination submissions will be shared with the nominees after the award recipients are chosen unless nominator elects not to.
  • The award committee reserves the right to not issue awards in any category. 
Nomination Information
  • Nominations should be CONCISE and address the IMPACT of the nominee's contributions.    
  • Provide specific, meaningful description of the nominee's contributions.  
  • Use specific examples of accomplishments.
  • Avoid generalities and make every sentence count.   
  • Address all aspects of the award criteria. 

Individual Awards

Nominations for individual awards will be evaluated using common criteria in addition to specific criteria for each of the respective awards.  

The common criteria includes:

  • Provides exemplary services to students, staff, faculty and/or general campus  
  • Makes notable contributions to the department and/or campus
  • Creates and maintains high morale 
  • Embodies the Principles of Community

The Citations of Excellence Awards recognize staff with achievements that go above and beyond the minimum requirements outlined in their position descriptions.

Additional criteria are listed with the description of each of the awards.  

The nomination narrative for Individual Awards is limited to 3200 characters (approximately 500 words). 

Team Awards

For the Staff Team Award, it is important to consider true excellence when nominating teams for this prestigious award. Staff Assembly wants to recognize teams of staff who go beyond the expectations of their position descriptions in contributing to the University’s Mission of Teaching, Research, and Service; and who exemplify outstanding achievement and/or service.

For the Staff Team Award for Health & Wellbeing, the Staff and Faculty Health and Well-Being Program wants to recognize teams of staff who positively affect their workplace community and environment by identifying innovative ways to integrate and promote well-being in the workplace.

Familiarize yourself with the basic expectations of the team members in order to better highlight how they go above and beyond the minimum requirements of their positions. 

When submitting your nomination, please provide examples showcasing how the team: 

  • Contributes to the University's Mission of Teaching, Research, and Service 
  • Provides exemplary service to students, staff and/or the broader campus 
  • Makes notable contributions to the department and/or campus
  • Creates and maintains high morale 
  • Embodies the Principles of Community

The narrative for the Team Award is limited to 4000 characters (approximately 750 words).  

A team nomination size is a maximum of 6 people.

Please contact Staff Assembly at staffvoice@ucdavis.edu if you have any questions.