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President's Award for Organizational Excellence and Empowerment

°®ÎÛ´«Ã½ is pleased to announce the launch of the President’s Award for Organizational Excellence and Empowerment, recognizing outstanding work that advances healthy, empowering cultures in organizations and communities. 

The award honors an individual or team whose work promotes, explores or contributes to a culture where people feel valued, supported and empowered to succeed. Awardees will be recognized at the 2026 Knowledge Without Boundaries Summit on Friday, October 23, 2026. 

Award categories

Nominations are invited in three distinct categories: 

Category: Research
Honors empirical studies, program evaluations and research-to-practice initiatives that demonstrate scholarly rigor and measurable impact in fostering organizational excellence, belongingness, and empowerment. 

Category: Scholarship
Recognizes scholarly, creative, pedagogical or professional work that advances understanding and supports empowerment and healthy organizational culture.  This category includes initiatives that do not utilize a traditional research design. 

Category: Dissertation
Celebrates completed doctoral dissertations that demonstrate outstanding scholarly achievement and make an original contribution to advancing cultures of empowerment, organizational excellence and belonging. 

Eligibility

Eligible work must have been completed, published, implemented, or defended by July 30, 2026, and demonstrate a clear contribution to a healthy, empowering culture. Work must have been completed, published, implemented, or defended within the last two (2) years. Nominations may be submitted by faculty, staff, students, alumni, or community partners. Self-nominations are also accepted. 

Submission requirements

Submissions will be reviewed by the President’s Advisory Council on Engagement (PACE) Research, Scholarship and Thought Leadership Working Group using a double-blind scoring process that evaluates alignment with organizational excellence and empowerment, contribution to knowledge and practice, demonstrated impact, and innovation. 

All nominations must include:

1. Nomination Statement (1–2 page Word document) 
The nomination statement must include:

  • Nominee name(s) 
  • UOPX Affiliation (staff, student, faculty)
  • Award category (research, scholarship, dissertation)
  • Title of the work 
  • Date of completion 
  • Nomination status (self-nomination or nomination by another individual) 

The statement should also address:

  • How the work promotes, explores, or contributes to a healthy culture where people feel valued and empowered
  • The significance and impact of the work 
  • Why the work exemplifies excellence within its category

2. Category-Specific Evidence of Performance
Acceptable evidence of performance should be included for each nomination. Category-specific evidence includes:

  • Research Category: Links/DOIs to outputs (videos, PowerPoints, conference sites, white papers, publications)
  • Scholarship Category: Links/DOIs to outputs (videos, PowerPoints, conference sites, white papers, publications)
  • Dissertation Category: PDF of full dissertation and ProQuest link

Nomination materials should be emailed to organizationalwellness@phoenix.edu

Important Dates

  • Nominations Close: August 1, 2026 
  • Winners Announced: September 2026 
  • Award Recognition Ceremony: October 23, 2026

Please note: Award recipients will be expected to attend the award recognition ceremony to accept the award and present their initiative or work.

Additional Information

For additional information, please email Dr. Kimberly Underwood at organizationalwellness@phoenix.edu