Accolades & Awards

The recipient of this award is an individual who made significant contributions toward enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion within the University of North Carolina at Greensboro community. The award honors the cumulative contributions of a Library staff member to advance EDI strategic initiatives in the University Libraries.

Staff Equity-Diversity-Inclusion Award Recipients:

• Michelle Courtney, 2024
• Charlie Birkner, 2023
• Suzanne Sawyer, 2022
• Chanda Jackson, 2021

Award Policies:

• This award includes a $500 cash prize.
• Awarded annually. However, this award doesn’t have to be awarded each year.
• All UL staff employees (full time and part time) are eligible after having worked at the UL for at least 24 months.
• No recipient of an award will be considered eligible for the same award in less than a five-year period.
• A record of award winners is posted on a wall in the first floor of Jackson Library as well as on the library web site. Winners also get a paper certificate.

The recipient of this award is someone who goes above and beyond, within and/or outside of their job duties, to further the University Libraries mission, values, and goals.

Staff Excellence Award Recipients:

• Cathy Griffith, 2024
• Nakia Hoskins, 2023
• Lois Vinson, 2022
• Anne Owens, 2021

Award Policies:

• This award includes a $500 cash prize.
• Awarded annually. However, this award doesn’t have to be awarded each year.
• All UL staff employees (full time and part time) are eligible after having worked at the UL for at least 24 months.
• No recipient of an award will be considered eligible for the same award in less than a five-year period.
• A record of award winners is posted on a wall in the first floor of Jackson Library as well as on the library web site. Winners also get a paper certificate.

The recipient of this award is an individual who provides outstanding service to patrons and/or colleagues.

Staff Outstanding Service Award Recipients:

• Robin Paschal, 2024
• Carolyn Shankle, 2023
• Paula Damasceno, 2022
• Patrick Dollar, 2021

Award Policies:

• This award includes a $500 cash prize.
• Awarded annually. However, this award doesn’t have to be awarded each year.
• All UL staff employees (full time and part time) are eligible after having worked at the UL for at least 24 months.
• No recipient of an award will be considered eligible for the same award in less than a five-year period.
• A record of award winners is posted on a wall in the first floor of Jackson Library as well as on the library web site. Winners also get a paper certificate.

Martha Ransley Staff Service Award (1998-2021) Information

The recipient of this award is an individual who made significant contributions toward enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion within the University of North Carolina at Greensboro community. The award honors the cumulative contributions of a Library faculty member to advance EDI strategic initiatives in the University Libraries.

Faculty Equity-Diversity-Inclusion Award Recipients:

• Melody Rood, 2024
• Stacey Krim, 2023
• Gerald Holmes, 2022
• Deborah Caldwell, 2021

Award Policies:

• This award includes a $500 cash prize.
• Awarded annually. However, this award doesn’t have to be awarded each year.
• All UL faculty employees (full time and part time) are eligible after having worked at the UL for at least 24 months. EHRA non-faculty are classified as Faculty and therefore are eligible for this award.
• No recipient of an award will be considered eligible for the same award in less than a five-year period.
• A record of award winners is posted on a wall in the first floor of Jackson Library as well as on the library web site. Winners also get a paper certificate.

The recipient of this award has conducted and published a particularly impressive research project. Ideally, publication of the research results would have been within the last 12 months.

Faculty Research Award Recipients:

• Candace Jacobs, 2024
• Melody Rood, 2023
• Tiffany Henry, 2022
• Maggie Murphy, 2021

Award Policies:

• This award includes a $500 cash prize.
• Awarded annually. However, this award doesn’t have to be awarded each year.
• All UL faculty employees (full time and part time) are eligible after having worked at the UL for at least 24 months. EHRA non-faculty are classified as Faculty and therefore are eligible for this award.
• No recipient of an award will be considered eligible for the same award in less than a five-year period.
• A record of award winners is posted on a wall in the first floor of Jackson Library as well as on the library web site. Winners also get a paper certificate.

The recipient of this award has made recent, excellent contributions in teaching, instruction, and/or information literacy or other literacies, or in supporting the teaching mission of the university. Evidence could include student evaluations, faculty feedback, and assessment data, or creating a new course, digital learning objects, etc.

Faculty Teaching Award Recipients:

• Steve Cramer, 2024
• Juanita Thacker, 2023
• Stacey Krim, 2022
• Jenny Dale, 2021

Award Policies:

• This award includes a $500 cash prize.
• Awarded annually. However, this award doesn’t have to be awarded each year.
• All UL faculty employees (full time and part time) are eligible after having worked at the UL for at least 24 months. EHRA non-faculty are classified as Faculty and therefore are eligible for this award.
• No recipient of an award will be considered eligible for the same award in less than a five-year period.
• A record of award winners is posted on a wall in the first floor of Jackson Library as well as on the library web site. Winners also get a paper certificate.

Purpose:  The Dean of University Libraries provides restricted funds to support internal projects that will innovatively enhance and expand library services and programs.

Award Range:  Requests may be up to $3000.

Eligibility:  University Libraries faculty, staff, and student employees.

Award Recipients:

• 2022-2023: Marilyn Hanichak, “Legos in the Library”
• 2021-2022: Paula Damasceno De Oliveira, Cheryl Cross, and Suzanne Sawyer, “DMC RISOLab”
• 2020-2021: Deborah Yun Caldwell, Melody Rood, and Olivia Patterson, “Anti-Racist Resource Library”
• 2019-2020: Maggie Murphy, Brown Biggers, and Jenny Dale, “Uplifting Memes”
• 2018-2019: Preservation Services Staff, “Revitalization of Spring Garden Press”
• 2017-2018: Richard Cox, Erin Lawrimore, and David Gwynn, “Well Crafted: A History of Downtown Greensboro Brewing”
• 2016-2017: Callie Coward, Erica Rau, and Carolyn Shankle, “Vintage Viands and the Roaring ‘20s”
• 2015-2016: Isabella Baltar, “No Boundaries in Preservation”
• 2014-2015: Erin Lawrimore, “Enhancing Access to Oral Histories in SCUA”
• 2013-2014: Brown Biggers and Armondo Collins, “DMC Makerspace”
• 2012-2013: Erin Lawrimore and Richard Cox, “Building the Framework for Mobile Historic Walking Tours”
• 2011-2012: Grant project not completed due to departure of employee
• 2010-2011: Mary Ann Graham and Cathy Griffith, “Late Night In-Library Assistance to Student Writers”; Beth Filar Williams, “Building an Instructional Technology Toolbox”

The Outstanding Student Library Worker Award recognizes an outstanding student worker in the UNCG University Libraries each year. The award is funded by a gift from David Arneke and Betty Work.

Award Recipients:

• Dahai Tong, Harold Schiffman Music Library, 2024
• Jordan Williams, Preservation Services, 2023
• Brandon Totten, Digital Media Commons, 2022
• Dylan Morris, Access Services, 2021
• Natalie Hayes, Access Services, 2020
• Vini Kuker, Harold Schiffman Music Library, 2019
• Haley Gann, Access Services and Administration, 2018
• Krystal Speights, Access Services, 2017
• Paula Damasceno de Oliveira, Digital Media Commons, 2016
• Femi-Ann Balogun, Research, Outreach, and Instruction, 2015
• William Cook, Access Services, 2014
• Alaina Jones, Harold Schiffman Music Library, 2013
• Lois Barnes, Access Services, 2012
• Dana Boyle, Harold Schiffman Music Library, 2011
• Jeremy Washburn, Reference/Cataloging, 2010
• Callie Moss, Cataloging, 2009
• Tim Cook, Harold Schiffman Music Library, 2008
• Jennifer Mincey, Access Services, 2007

To be eligible to receive the award, a student must:

• have been employed by the University Libraries for at least one full semester
• be currently employed by the Libraries
• be enrolled in the University, and
• be in good academic standing.

Criteria for selection:

• Reliability – approaches job and assigned tasks consistently and is dependable regarding completion and deadlines, does not have an attendance or tardy problem
• Responsibility – is accountable for all actions, providing feedback to supervisor as needed
• Conscientiousness – has a total view of assigned tasks with department goals, behaves in an ethical manner, and focuses on the end result of actions
• Commitment to Customer Service – shows respect for patrons and users while handling transactions or interactions competently
• Teamwork Shown in the Performance of Library Duties – respects and interacts appropriately with other student workers, supervisors, and library staff

The University Libraries Undergraduate Research Award (ULURA) is given in recognition of an outstanding original paper or project in any media (for example film, performance, software or technology) created by an undergraduate student or students at UNCG. Successful individual or group projects will demonstrate the ability to locate, select, and synthesize information from library and scholarly resources. The winning entry will receive a $500 prize awarded to their student account funded by the University Libraries.

Award Recipients:

• 2023: Beth Campbell, “On Whom the Nation Rests: Leopoldo Méndez’s Allegory of Suffering.”
• 2022: Krista Savage-White, “Finding the North Star,” and Luiz Francisco Guizzo Gutierrez Osorio, “Losing Minds and Hearts: Ideology, Education, and the Development of Youth“.
• 2021: Krista Westervelt, “Impact of Racial Disparities in Transportation Access on Older Adults in Chatham County.”
• 2020: No award given due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• 2019: Montana Joyce, “Sailing the Seas of Slavery: An Analysis of Instructions to British and American Slave Ship Captains in the 1700s.”
• 2018: Jordan Richmond, “Crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh: Sociocultural Underpinnings and Political Barriers to the 2016-2018 Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing.”
• 2017: Ryan Ridpath, “The Old Lady and Old Beardless: Gender, Emotion, and Legitimate Violence in Njal’s Saga.”
• 2016: Paula Damasceno De Oliveira, “Rosebud and the Glass Ball: Two Tricks to the Myth-Making of Citizen Kane.”
• 2015: Kyle Pope, “Lightbulb Moment: Electricity in the YWCA Scrapbook.”
• 2014: David Banks, “The Human Gut Microbiome: A Physiological System Approach,” for his Honors Contract Thesis in General Microbiology.
• 2013: Nathan Roberts, in Dr. Greg Knehans’s PSC 344: Politics of Globalization paper, “Chinese Consumers: World Systems and World Cultural Analysis of Culture Hybridity.” 
• 2012: Jimmy Humphrey, IGS 400 paper “Missionary Work, Politics, Culture, and Ethical Globalization.“
• 2011: Sonia Haga, “A Comparative Study of the Perceptions of German POWs in North Carolina,” for her Senior Honors Thesis in History under Professor Jeff Jones. 
• 2010: Mary Robinson, “Poetry in Motion: The Divine Sarah on the English Stage,” for Professor Woodworth’s Theatre History 501 class.

Key Dates and Times

• All Applicant Materials Including Final Project: Friday, 3/28/2024
• Faculty Nomination Form Due: Friday, 3/28/2024
• Notification of Winner: Monday, 4/19/2024
• Presentation of Award at the Provost Student Excellence Awards ceremony: TBD

Eligibility

• All applicants and authors must:
  • Be currently enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student at UNCG in any discipline.
  • Complete a research project or paper at UNCG in either the spring, summer, or fall semester of the prior calendar year.
• The award winner must:
  • Contribute a copy of their paper or project to the UNCG Institutional Repository (NC DOCKS).
  • Attend the Provost Student Excellence Awards ceremony to receive the award.

Requirements

Students may be nominated by a UNCG teaching faculty member or submit his/her own project along with a recommendation from the supporting faculty member. Student applicants must submit the following:

• 500 word essay describing the student(s) research strategies. (View essay suggestions)
• Final version of the completed paper or project, including the bibliography or reference list
• Contact information for Faculty Sponsor.
• Contact information for any additional applicants/authors.

Submissions

• Undergraduate Research Award Application
• Undergraduate Research Award Faculty Nomination Form

Contact Information for Questions

Stacey Krim, ULURA Committee Chair: [email protected]

Evaluation Criteria

Scoring rubric for research strategies essay, submitted project and other requirements (view scoring rubric).

Successful projects will demonstrate:

• Sophistication, creativity, originality, and depth or breadth in the use of library collections and scholarly resources. This includes, but is not limited to, databases, multi-media, online resources, and print-based materials. Materials obtained through interlibrary loan are acceptable.
• Exceptional ability to use these resources in the creation of an original research project or paper.
• Clarity and coherent organization of information. All writing must be grammatically correct.
• Responsible use of information including appropriate and accurate citations and credits.
• Projects and papers must be written in English.