Made a Difference Awards
The students at my university run a Made a Difference Award. Any student can nominate any member of staff (academic or support). Anyone nominated is invited to a dinner. At the dinner there is a short list, and then final awards.
Some of my staff won't accept nominations because they feel it's divisive: I feel that this would be true if it were for "best teaching" etc, but this is not a "best" award, it's simply: in this year, and for this student, you made a difference to their lives. I once had an appraisal that quite seriously turned me into the academic I am. It doesn't mean other appraisals were useless (some were, some weren't), just that this one came along at the right moment and intervened in my life. I'll be forever grateful to the chap who conducted it. I also think it a bit churlish to the students to turn down what is essentially simply a "thank you".
So last night a bunch of us trouped off to what turned out to be a 350 person gathering of staff and students: I heard two lovely singers (Toby and Rebecca) who I expect to hear again one day because they had outstanding voices--I've told them to send me links. We had a nice presenter from Essex Radio, Dave Monk, who--a man in his 60s--demonstrated that you can do an award ceremony, tell jokes and never once descend to racism, sexism, lewdness, or general ogling/inappropriatness or even just misplaced in jokes so if you ever need an MC I recommend him (He's an alumni by the way). Dinner was very nice and decently edible (and safe, always a consideration for me), and everyone had a lot of fun.
Many of my staff were nominated including two maternity cover people and a GTA, enggirl which I am particularly pleased about because it's a lovely thing to happen when you are all new and shiny. One of the cover people made the shortlist, especially good, as did one of my colleagues from my partner colleges. None of us won, but I've been a judge and a nominee enough times to be clear that nomination really is a very cool thing.
Oh yes, and I was nominated and shortlisted: I was really surprised because I don't see many students, and when I saw the citation I was dead chuffed. Really it just says "she does her job as Head of Department" but it's not the kind of job people really notice being done, so to have someone notice it, makes me feel very happy indeed.
Farah always goes above and beyond to help students. If she can't address an issue immediately or doesn't have the correct information to do so, she will look into the matter and get the correct information to address it. Nothing is too much when it comes to students and she regularly goes out of her way to support students in the best way she possibly can. As a rep in the faculty I know I can always approach her with students' concerns and she will do everything possible to address it.
Some of my staff won't accept nominations because they feel it's divisive: I feel that this would be true if it were for "best teaching" etc, but this is not a "best" award, it's simply: in this year, and for this student, you made a difference to their lives. I once had an appraisal that quite seriously turned me into the academic I am. It doesn't mean other appraisals were useless (some were, some weren't), just that this one came along at the right moment and intervened in my life. I'll be forever grateful to the chap who conducted it. I also think it a bit churlish to the students to turn down what is essentially simply a "thank you".
So last night a bunch of us trouped off to what turned out to be a 350 person gathering of staff and students: I heard two lovely singers (Toby and Rebecca) who I expect to hear again one day because they had outstanding voices--I've told them to send me links. We had a nice presenter from Essex Radio, Dave Monk, who--a man in his 60s--demonstrated that you can do an award ceremony, tell jokes and never once descend to racism, sexism, lewdness, or general ogling/inappropriatness or even just misplaced in jokes so if you ever need an MC I recommend him (He's an alumni by the way). Dinner was very nice and decently edible (and safe, always a consideration for me), and everyone had a lot of fun.
Many of my staff were nominated including two maternity cover people and a GTA, enggirl which I am particularly pleased about because it's a lovely thing to happen when you are all new and shiny. One of the cover people made the shortlist, especially good, as did one of my colleagues from my partner colleges. None of us won, but I've been a judge and a nominee enough times to be clear that nomination really is a very cool thing.
Oh yes, and I was nominated and shortlisted: I was really surprised because I don't see many students, and when I saw the citation I was dead chuffed. Really it just says "she does her job as Head of Department" but it's not the kind of job people really notice being done, so to have someone notice it, makes me feel very happy indeed.
Farah always goes above and beyond to help students. If she can't address an issue immediately or doesn't have the correct information to do so, she will look into the matter and get the correct information to address it. Nothing is too much when it comes to students and she regularly goes out of her way to support students in the best way she possibly can. As a rep in the faculty I know I can always approach her with students' concerns and she will do everything possible to address it.