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CSU-Pueblo students have the opportunity to nominate staff and faculty members for the Students’ Choice Awards. Nominations for the awards, which are sponsored by the Associated Students’ Government, are due on Feb. 20.
According to ASG President Timothy Zercher, students will be able to vote by social media and email for the first time in the award’s history.
The ASG will narrow down each category to the three most popular nominees.
The faculty and staff that are nominated display devotion to the students of CSU-Pueblo.
Essential for the award, nominees must present characteristics of advocacy, thoughtfulness, exceptional dedication and responsibility for the atmosphere at CSU-Pueblo.
In order to be nominated, there is a specific criterion that a candidate is required to meet. Though not all of the criterion can apply to one person, it is encouraged.
For example, they must have a relationship with students that encourages and promotes scholastic professional excellence.
The Students’ Choice Award has had a deep significance to the winners who received this award in previous years.
“It was a tremendous honor to receive the Student’s Choice Award in 2011. Working with the students on a daily basis is very rewarding in itself, but being recognized by the students for doing what I love to do was a great experience,” said Gena Alfonso, director of student engagement and leadership.
The most recent recipient was mass communications professor Julie Armstrong, who received the award for academic year 2013-2014.
“This is truly the greatest award I have ever received and I was humbled when I found out I was the recipient. I was touched by their kind words and was overjoyed that students would actually take the time to reflect and write about their experiences with me as their teacher. I still cannot believe it,” Armstrong said.
“I will be so thankful forever. It means that much to me,” she said.
Armstrong has received several awards in categories like academics, beauty, sports and as a professional, but said being selected for this honor was overwhelming for her. She also said she hopes her impact on students has been positive.
“If I can be a mentor, a motivator and an inspiration to my students in any way, that will be the greatest gift I can give. And if I can have a positive impact on just one student, then I know I am doing the right thing,” she said.
After nomination period ends, all candidates will be carefully looked over by the ASG members.
Once they receive all nominations, they will condense some nominations if necessary so that they fit in one or two paragraphs. Then, they will construct a survey with the names of the faculty and staff nominated along with their nominations.
Once the survey is complete, they send it out for students to vote online for their favorite outstanding faculty or staff member. The voting period will last through March, according to current timelines. The faculty or staff member to receive the most votes will win their respective awards.