Distinguished Graduate Staff Award

Nominations no longer being accepted! 

The Graduate School is pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the 2025 Distinguished Graduate Staff Award. The award recipient will receive an honorarium of $1,000 and will be recognized at A Celebration of Graduate Excellence.

The purpose of this award is to recognize the crucial role played by staff members in facilitating the success of UMass graduate students. Staff members are essential to the smooth operation of the graduate curriculum, admissions, funding, and other functions. More than that, they often serve as advisers, career counselors, local guides, cultural ambassadors, bankers, real estate agents, and relationship coaches to many graduate students.   

Any professional or clerical staff employee on this campus is eligible to be nominated, except employees of the Graduate School and previous award recipients of the last 5 years.

Nomination Process and Tips

Nominations can come from current graduate students and faculty members. To nominate a staff member, multiple students may compose and sign a single letter or write separate letters that are submitted as part of a single nomination packet. Students who have previously nominated staff members not yet chosen for this award are encouraged to revise and resubmit their nominations.        

The most effective nomination letters will explain how a nominee has risen "above and beyond" the call of duty or otherwise distinguished themselves in serving graduate students. What makes a given nominee "stand out" as an exceptional staff member? How have they transcended their job description to help students? Letters that detail the uniquely positive impact a staff member has had on the graduate students they serve will be especially valuable. In the past, the most persuasive nominations have come from groups of students (at least 5, sometimes more) writing separate and distinct letters in support of a single nominee. Get a group together and write your letters today! Nominating staff members for this award is a great way to recognize the people who work so hard in support of graduate students and graduate education at UMass.

Nominations should be submitted through the Google Form by February 10, 2025. All materials must be submitted as a single PDF. The Graduate School will not solicit letters. Please title the file "Distinguished Staff_Name of Nominee".

The award recipient will be chosen by a committee drawn from the staff of the Graduate School. Please direct any questions about this award to grad-communications [at] grad [dot] umass [dot] edu (grad-communications[at]grad[dot]umass[dot]edu).