awards

Awards and Recognition Ceremony

Each spring, the College of Education and Human Development at Western Michigan University acknowledges students, faculty and staff for their great accomplishments from the past year. 

2024 Awards and Recognition
Friday, April 19 at 5:00 p.m. 
Gilmore Atrium 

Nominations for 2024 awards are now closed.

  • Esprit De Corps Award

    This award recognizes an individual who personifies the vision of the College of Education and Human Development at Western Michigan University, especially in reference to respectful civility, collegiality and academic citizenship which work to lift the overall spirit of the college’s environment. 

  • Mary L. Dawson Full-time Teaching Excellence Award

    This award recognizes one individual (Board-appointed faculty member) who demonstrates exceptional creativity, enthusiasm, and passion for teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level(s).

  • Mary L. Dawson Part-time Teaching Excellence Award

    This award recognizes one individual (Board-appointed faculty member) who demonstrates exceptional creativity, enthusiasm, and passion for teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level(s).

  • Multicultural Advocate Award for Global Engagement

    This award recognizes one individual who has made significant contributions to establishing or strengthening meaningful ties between the University and our global partners.

  • Multicultural Advocate Award for Promoting Diversity

    This award recognizes one individual who has made significant contributions to furthering diversity within the College at Western Michigan University.

  • Rising Star Award, Undergraduate

    This award recognizes a College of Education and Human Development undergraduate student who has demonstrated outstanding potential in scholarship, teaching, and/or professional leadership within Western Michigan University. The recipient shall have demonstrated a quality of performance that indicates that they will continue to develop into distinguished members of their profession.

  • Rising Star Award, Master's

    This award recognizes a College of Education and Human Development master's student who has demonstrated outstanding potential in scholarship, teaching, and/or professional leadership within Western Michigan University. The recipient shall have demonstrated a quality of performance that indicates that they will continue to develop into distinguished members of their profession.

  • Rising Star Award, Doctoral or Specialist

    This award recognizes three College of Education and Human Development students (one each at the doctoral or specialist, master’s and undergraduate levels) who have demonstrated outstanding potential in scholarship, teaching, and/or professional leadership within Western Michigan University. The recipients shall have demonstrated a quality of performance that indicates that they will continue to develop into distinguished members of their profession.

  • Staff Excellence Award

    This award recognizes a staff member in the College of Education who consistently makes outstanding contributions in support of faculty, staff, students, administrators and all those served by the College of Education and Human Development.

  • Strengthening Community Connections Award

    This award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to establishing or strengthening meaningful ties between Western Michigan University and community partners. The awardee's actions have furthered the University as a vital component of the community by advocating greater involvement between the University and community sectors while building lasting community collaborations.

  • Trailblazer Award

    This award recognizes a single faculty member or team of faculty who engage(s) in innovative scholarship (which may include but is not limited to creative activity, research, program development, software development or other scholarly pursuits) which impacts the discipline.

Nomination Process

Recipients are nominated by fellow faculty, staff and students and voted on by the Awards and Recognition Committee. To view current committee members, click here. For a nomination to be considered complete it must have the following:

  • One completed nomination form and one support form are required. Additional support forms are optional and will be accepted if submitted. A maximum of three support forms will be accepted beginning in 2025. If nomination and support forms are not fully complete, submissions will not be reviewed by Awards and Recognition Committee.
    • Those submitting support information need only fill out the support form.
  • The CEHD Awards Committee encourages nominations and support letter from all CEHD faculty, staff, students, alumni and community partners.
  • The CEHD Awards Committee reviews the nominations and support material based on the award criteria. For each category a selection criteria rubric has been provided. The committee recommends that nominations and letters of support provide information that addresses information in the rubric.
  • Nominations submitted in the prior 2-year cycle will be reviewed by the committee. Additional or updated nomination and support material is not required but is welcome.
  • For each nomination and support the word count range is 250 (minimum) to 500 (maximum). The online nomination form is set for these limits. This word count was established so that the selection committee will have a clear picture of the strengths of each of the nominees.
  • Once all winners have been determined, the name of the nominator will be shared with each nominee; and upon request of the nominee the nomination and support materials are provided to each nominee.
  • Generally, winners for an individual category will not be repeated within a 5-year period. A list of the previous winners (within 5 years) can be found under each individual award category.

Past Award Events