A Nomination for the Innovation of the Year Program, 2003

The Glendale Community College Employee & Student Recognition Awards Program is a system for recognizing, encouraging, and promoting the extraordinary efforts of college employees and students involved in the whole spectrum of programs benefiting students, faculty and staff. 

The beneficial activity of recognizing the achievements of co-workers is placed in the reach of all college personnel through a fun and easy on-line form linked to the Employee & Student Recognition Awards web site at http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/recognition/, where seven different awards are identified by these category names:

• Behind the Scenes Support Award
• Community Service Award
• Customer and Student Satisfaction Award
• Fostering Teamwork Award
• Promoting GCC Award
• Valuing Diversity Award
• You Name It: “Beyond the Call of Duty” Award

Recipients of these awards and their supervisors/advisors are notified via e-mail, and the awards are announced to the campus community on a monthly basis in the on-line employee newsletter, Gaucho Gazette, at http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/gaucho/. The GCC Employee Recognition Committee also issues a certificate to each award recipient. 

What began as simply an Employee Recognition Awards Program has also been used to recognize students and student clubs, due to the broad accessibility and application of the web interface and the far-reaching ideals of the program.

The program itself is publicized throughout the campus via e-mail announcements and links to the web site in locations such as the Information for Employees page at http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/employees/.

This program has had a positive impact on the education of students according to the following criteria, relating to the Values, Mission, Vision, and Goals of Maricopa Community Colleges:

• Quality (Value Education): Recognition of the accomplishments of others has proven value in encouraging growth, development and initiative among employees, departments, student clubs, and teams who will go the extra mile to improve student services, programs, and innovations.

• Efficiency (Value Responsibility): With the new web site and on-line form transaction, and by coordinating the program with the on-line employee newsletter Gaucho Gazette, efficiency in the process of employee and student recognition has dramatically improved compared to past methods with a fast, streamlined approach that reaches out to a greater number of college personnel.

• Effectiveness (Value Responsibility): Since the program has been implemented on campus, the reaction has been positive and uplifting, improving the climate and morale of the institution and fostering productivity and quality of work; yet the on-line approach to the project has cut the costs otherwise required of former, paper-based approaches.

• Learning (Value Students): Transition to on-line processes benefits students and employees overall in terms of utilizing network resources efficiently; more specifically, the award categories include the “Customer and Student Satisfaction Award,” “Promoting GCC Award,” and other areas of attention focused on promoting and continuously improving student services and learning.

• Creativity (Value Excellence): The implementation of a user-friendly, web-based recognition process provides a new and fun way to fulfill this important need; it has also extended participation in the program to anyone in reach of the Internet, as the program is compatible with any web browser and any computer platform, in the office or at home, and from any campus location.

• Timeliness (Value Excellence): During the six months since this program was implemented, it has proven to be effective and user-friendly due to the immediacy and simplicity of the on-line process; and the monthly editions of the employee newsletter Gaucho Gazette announce the awards of those recognized through this program in a timely and regular manner.

• Collaboration (Value Excellence): The program itself is a collaborative effort representing several academic and service departments, and multiple employee groups (Faculty, MAT, and PSA); in addition, the program promotes and fosters teamwork and cooperation throughout the college community with the specific focuses of the “Community Service Award,” “Fostering Teamwork Award,” and other recognition award categories.

• Replication (Value Excellence): The program is based on universal values and benefits, and can and should be applied at all institutions; the technical approach is compatible with other campuses because it is web-based and may be easily imitated.

The benefits of the GCC Employee & Student Recognition Awards Program extend beyond the Innovation of the Year criteria. The program exemplifies and promotes:

• Maricopa’s Value of Diversity with its “Valuing Diversity Award” and by making the program uniformly accessible to the whole campus community,

• Maricopa’s Value of Public Trust with its “Community Service Award,”

• Maricopa’s Value of Freedom and Value of Fairness with its on-line accessibility allowing equal expression and empowerment in the awards process,

• Maricopa’s Value of Employees with its focus upon employee recognition, and

• Maricopa’s Vision of continuous quality improvement through its focus upon encouraging, promoting, and extending the excellence of employees’ and students’ work.