Rising Star Award

Purpose

The Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Rising Star Award recognizes an individual who shows great promise in his/her position and has demonstrated exceptional job performance.

Award

The name of the award is the “PSEAS Rising Star Award.” A single award is presented annually. Each recipient receives $500 and a memento. Funding is made possible through annual gifts from engineering alumni and friends.

Eligibility

All full-time staff members who have worked for the College of Engineering for no more than two years (as of July 1) are eligible to receive this award. The spirit of the award is to recognize and encourage people who are new to the College. Therefore, previous work for the College would count towards the years of work for this eligibility.

Qualifications

Recipient must demonstrate a commitment to engineering and a willingness to go above and beyond his/her job description to advance the goals of their work unit.

Nominations

Nominations may be initiated by Engineering staff, students, faculty, and administrators. Each nomination, however, must be submitted to the head of the candidate’s academic or other unit for review prior to submission to the Dean’s Office. Each unit may nominate only one employee for this award. Each nomination should consist of:

• a completed nomination form which includes specific examples detailing how the nominee embodies the spirit of the award;
• a one-page letter of nomination from the initiator;
• a maximum of three letters of support from College personnel, University personnel, students, alumni, and/or friends of the College;
• each support letter will be one page in length and will have one signature.

Selection

A committee appointed by the Dean of Engineering will make selection. The committee will consist of PSEAS representatives, recent past award recipient, a member of the Staff Advisory Committee, and the Director of Alumni Relations.

Frequency

Past recipients are ineligible.