Distinguished Awards for Excellence | NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Distinguished Awards for Excellence


Overview

The Annual NYU Tandon School of Engineering Service Awards recognize faculty and staff for their exemplary contributions to the NYU Tandon School of Engineering community through dedicated service over the years. Nominations for the NYU Tandon Distinguished Awards for Excellence are in the following categories:

  • Inclusive Excellence
  • Outstanding customer service
  • Inspiration through leadership
  • Dedication to invention, innovation and entrepreneurship (12e)

Please join us each May at this exciting event as we recognize the outstanding dedication of the School of Engineering Faculty and Staff.


Nomination Process and Deadline

Faculty and Staff may nominate individuals for the four award categories: Outstanding Customer ServiceInspiration through Leadership, Dedication to Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, and Inclusive Excellence.

All eligible nominees will be submitted to the Awards Committee for review. Awards Committee members will only review nominations received using this online form. To submit a nomination, click on the corresponding link below. The deadline for all submissions is April 19, 2024. Award recipients will be announced at the 2024 NYU Tandon School of Engineering Service Awards Ceremony, to be held on May 9, 2024.


Guidelines and Eligibility

Candidates must have been contributing active members of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering community during academic year 2023 - 2024 and made significant and demonstrable contributions on the University-wide level.

  • All regular full-time and part-time employees are eligible for this award, regardless of their job classification or other awards received.
  • An employee is eligible for the same award only once every five years.
  • Any regular full-time or part-time employee may nominate.
  • Employees may not self-nominate.
  • Awards will be made at the discretion of the Awards Committee, which may choose to grant no award or multiple awards in any one year. In the event that there are no nominees in a certain category, the Committee will make a recommendation to Jelena Kovacevic, Dean of the School of Engineering, and nominate the individual who best exemplified the particular category during the designated year.

Award Categories

The Inclusive Excellence Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to advancing inclusion, diversity, belonging, equity, and accessibility (IDBEA) within and/or connecting to NYU Tandon School of Engineering. A recipient of this award inspires commitment to IDBEA, encourages and supports collaboration and teamwork, and values the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of others.

The individual selected for this award will:

  • Demonstrate a commitment to creating and maintaining a cultural, institutional, and social climate based on mutual respect and shared values.
  • Create environments (learning, social, collegial, professional) in which all individuals and groups are welcomed, respected, values, and supported.
  • Provide vision, promote and ensure alignment with school/unit and NYU’s IDBEA values and goals.
  • Ensure fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all members of our community.
  • Actively contribute to Tandon’s and/or NYU’s IDBEA efforts, goals and objectives.
  • Work at the intersection of STEM and diversity, inclusion, social justice, anti-racism, anti-discrimination, restoration, reconciliation, and accessibility.

This award is one part of Tandon's efforts to create a learning and research environment that is reflective of the diversity of our country and our global community and our continued commitment to excellence. 


The Outstanding Customer Service Award recognizes an employee who has demonstrated excellent or exceptional customer service to an individual within and/or outside the School of Engineering. A recipient of this award is someone who inspires us and sets the highest example of standards that the rest of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering community continually strives to achieve.

This award will be given to an individual who by their demeanor, words and actions, gives superior customer service. An individual is considered to show exemplary customer service because they demonstrate the following:

  • Community Service: Influences and enhances the NYU Tandon School of Engineering community by making sure each interaction with internal and external customers is professional, positive and effective.
  • Problem Solving: Solve problems or concerns for customers.
  • Operational Excellence: Significant changes, improvements or approaches that enhance work productivity, efficiency, and quality.
  • Above & Beyond: Individual must exceed customer service expectations by making customers feel important and appreciated.

This leadership award is for individuals who play a key role in influencing the culture and climate of NYU Tandon School of Engineering through inspiration. The recipient is one who is deeply committed to NYU Tandon School of Engineering and its mission, and is continuously looking for opportunities to improve. The individual possesses the ability to motivate others in the NYU Tandon School of Engineering community by creating a sense of vision and then providing the support that is needed in order to be successful.

The Inspiration through Leadership award goes to the recipient who:

  • Provides leadership through an efficient and effective manner and approaches his/her work and colleagues with openness and honesty to both inspire and invest trust;
  • Brings leadership by motivating others toward the ongoing pursuit of excellence;
  • Has the ability to provide leadership while effectively influencing change or direction on new projects and initiatives;
  • Provides leadership by working with colleagues and peers in the creation of knowledge and advancement of excellence or service at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

This award goes to the person who helps promote invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship and turns this educational philosophy and spirit into life-altering advancements. He/she commits to empowering our students, staff, and faculty to tackle the world's scientific and technical challenges through the principles of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. He/she is the one who rids him/herself of traditional thinking and moves forward with creating the future; the one who turns creative ideas into facts and makes the dream come true. He/she fosters and nurtures the growth of our bright future.

The award winner demonstrates the following:

  • Exemplifies and embodies the core principles of invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship;
  • Equips the NYU Tandon School of Engineering community with essential tools, inspires creativity and provides endless support that promotes a positive campus climate;
  • Forges new ideas, big or small, that foster growth and development of the School of Engineering;
  • Demonstrates a consistent pattern of extraordinary dedication to the NYU Tandon School of Engineering above and beyond the contractual assignments.


Nomination Form

Select One of the Following Categories:
Include specific examples, how this nominee’s actions and accomplishments are exemplifications of this category nomination.