Faculty and Staff Awards

Sustainability Hero Award - Rolling nominations - Awarded Bi-annually
"Green Me!" Spirit Award - Rolling nominations - Awarded Quarterly

Sustainability Hero Award

The Sustainability Hero Award is given to a faculty or staff member or a group of faculty and/or staff members who have furthered university sustainability efforts through their creativity, dedication and heart.

Who can be nominated for a Sustainability Hero Award?

Heros have gone above and beyond their core duties to seek out creative solutions that have reduced Mason's impact on our local or global communities. Examples may include the conducting of educational and awareness campaigns, process changes that promote resource reduction and efficiency improvements, and direct reduction in departmental resource use. People who are nominated for this award will be evaluated on the following criteria: 1) biggest bang for the buck - small investment, large impact; 2) most creative solution to a common problem on campus; 3) breadth of impact on our campus community; 4) against all odds - someone willing to go out on a limb to challenge a system or process that has stood the test of time but was past its useful life.

How often will the award be given, and to how many people?

The award will be given to 2 faculty and staff members each year. Nominations will be accepted twice a year, prior to the Human Resources Awards Ceremony; awards will be presented at the ceremony.

Who can nominate someone for a Sustainability Hero Award?

Supervisors or peers can nominate someone for this award.

What is the value of the award?

These awards will be a $200 cash award, to be spread across multiple people if applicable. In the case of a group award, a celebration is encouraged, rather than splitting up the cash among all members of the team.

Who will be choosing the winners?

The Sustainability Council and the Executive Steering Committee for Sustainability will make the final determination of winners.

Note: Sustainability Office employees are not eligible for this award unless their efforts have been outside the scope of their employment.

"Green Me!" Spirit Award

These awards are given to faculty, staff, or student leaders who have shown exceptional effort through project or event leadership their dedication to educating the campus on sustainability.

Who can be nominated for a Sustainability Hero Award?

Participants in planning events such as Earth Week, Fall for the Book, Green Rush, and student event faculty and staff advisors are eligible for this award.

How often will this award be given, and to how many people?

The award will be given to 10 people per year (faculty, staff, or student). The award will be given out on a rolling basis by the Sustainability Office.

Who can nominate someone for a Sustainability Hero Award?

Recipients can be nominated by anyone on campus (faculty, administration, or students).

What is the value of the award?

These awards will be worth approximately $30 each, and will consist of a variety of “green” products, depending on availability. The award would generally consist of a sustainability tee shirt, a refillable mug and/or canteen, a reusable shopping bag, and a subscription to Coop America and/or other green publications. The bag would also include educational literature about sustainability.

Who will be choosing the winners?

The Sustainability Council will make the final consensus determination of the winners based on group discussion.