Team Recognition Award

The Team Recognition Award recognizes a cross-departmental team of Western employees who exemplify cooperation, collaboration, and open communication. The team receiving the award must be comprised of a core group of integral team players who actively worked in partnership on a project that significantly advanced one or more of the three core themes of the strategic plan: Advancing Inclusive Success, Increasing Washington Impact, and/or Enhancing Academic Excellence.

Nominations for the 2026 Team Recognition Award are now OPEN. Please use the online WWU Team Recognition Award nomination form to submit a nomination for a team by the Friday, February 13 deadline. Thank you!

Selection Criteria

To be considered, the team must meet all of the following criteria:

  • Build effective collaborative relationships across different work units, groups or departments.
  • Produce a measurable positive impact on the advancement of the university mission and strategic plan goals, beyond the expectations of team members' regular position requirements.
  • Approach the team project in an innovative way that departs from "business as usual."
  • Create a team environment that promotes cooperation, communication, trust, and respect for differences.

Award/Recognition

The team receiving the Team Recognition Award will be recognized at the Celebration of Excellence Awards in May.

Award Administration

President’s Office (Michele.Anderson@wwu.edu)

Nomination Process

Nominations may be made by any WWU faculty or staff member. The team of faculty and/or staff may also include students. The President's Cabinet will review all nominations and make the final selection.

The nomination process for the 2026 award is now OPEN. Please follow the nomination form link in the award description above to nominate a cross-functional team making a positive impact on the WWU community. The nomination deadline is Friday, February 13, 2026.

Awardees

2025

The three members of the WWU Douglass Day Team standing in the Wilson Library Reading Room

WWU Douglass Day Team - Various

The Douglass Day Team serves as the event coordinator for the National Douglass Day, an annual program that marks the birth of Frederick Douglass. Western's team of students, faculty and staff join colleagues from across the nation to create learning resources about Black history. The project is supported by the Black Student Coalition as part of their Black History Month celebrations. The event involves a crowdsourcing project for the transcription of documents found in the archives of important Black women. This “Transcribe-a-thon” work is undertaken simultaneously by work parties across the nation. Local event organizers foster inclusive spaces for collaboration and participation.

Now in its third year, Douglass Day offers a unique opportunity to engage colleagues from around the world to celebrate the life and contributions of Frederick Douglass. Participants interact with important archival collections and engage in an innovative crowdsourcing project resulting in the creation of new digital resources for teaching and research. The success of WWU’s Douglass Day event was due to the passion and expertise of a collaborative team of faculty and staff who facilitated significant support and participation from an impressive number of campus departments.

INDIVIDUAL TEAM MEMBERS

(L-R in photo) Jenny Marie Forsythe (Department of English), David Schlitt (Western Libraries), Nia I. F. Gipson (Multicultural Student Services)

RUNNER-UP TEAMS

The Centers for Student Access, Community, and Intercultural Engagement; Western’s Safe Ride Program Implementation Team; What-Comm 911 Dispatch Transition Team; WWU's Winter Operations Team; Generations of Pride Program Team; Winter Weather Planning & Response Team; and the Scholarship Software Implementation Team

Past Awardees

1 awardee(s) for this year

2024 Awardees

IT Major Incident Response Team group members standing in front of the Old Main steps

IT Major Incident Response Team - Various

The IT Major Incident Response Team of Western Washington University demonstrated remarkable dedication and professionalism in restoring critical IT services for the campus after a series of catastrophic failures of the datacenter infrastructure. The failures, which occurred over a two-week period in February 2024, threatened to disrupt the university's core functions of instruction, research, and operations. The small team of IT experts worked tirelessly for long hours (including nights and weekends) to restore the systems to operation, ensuring that no critical data was lost. Thanks to their exceptional effort, the university was able to process payroll on time, disperse financial aid to students, and pay its bills without any major delays or penalties.

INDIVIDUAL TEAM MEMBERS

FIRST ROW: Chuck Lanham (IT); Wanna VanCuren (EAS); Chris Miller (EIS); Peter Atwater (ATUS); Megan Summers (Human Resources); 
SECOND ROW: Henry Lawrance (EIS); Max Bronsema (WebTech); Steve Treloar (EIS); Jon Junell (EIS); David Bass (Western Libraries); Aoife Finch (EAS); 
THIRD ROW: Dennis Terrell (EIS); Jabez Kizer (EIS); Scott Giles (EAS); Tim McLaughlin (EIS); Erik Favro (ATUS); Eric Spanitz (EAS); 

NOT PICTURED: Geordon Brewer (Physics – Astronomy); Aspen Clark (ATUS); John Farquhar (ATUS); Nate Fortner (ResTek); Colin Hanson (Engineering & Design); Jeff Packer (EAS); Nigel Packer (WebTech); Meredith Stott (Business & Financial Systems)

RUNNERS-UP TEAMS

  • Title IX Recognition Team
  • Swift Quake Collaboration Team
  • MSN Program for Equitable Care Team
  • Cold and Snow Response Team