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Distinguished Alumni Awards Procedure

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Section 1 - Purpose

(1) The Charles Sturt University Distinguished Alumni Awards have been established to formally recognise and celebrate the many professional and personal achievements of the University’s alumni community, and to share these achievements with the University and its communities.

(2) This procedure provides information for determining the award winners and ensuring that the awards are managed and administered fairly and in alignment with the Charles Sturt University (the University) values and ethos.

Scope

(3) This procedure applies to current staff and alumni of the University and its predecessor institutions.

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Section 2 - Glossary

(4) For the purpose of this procedure, the following terms have the definitions stated:

Alumni of Charles Sturt University includes:
1. domestic and international graduates of the University’s degrees/programs and its predecessor institutions
2. Study Abroad and Exchange Students
3. past and present members of the University Council
4. past members of staff
5. honorary degree recipients
6. Companions of the University.

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Section 3 - Policy

(5) This procedure supports the Governance (Honorary Awards and Titles) Rule 2021

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Section 4 - Procedures

Part A - Award categories

(6) The Distinguished Alumni Awards have six categories stated in the table at clause 8.

(7) The Distinguished Alumni Awards have been developed to align with the University Strategy, our ethos ‘Yindyamarra Winhanganha’ and the University’s values ‘insightful’, ‘inclusive’, ‘impactful’ and ‘inspiring’.

(8) The categories of award and eligibility criteria are described in the following table:

Award name	Description	Criteria
Distinguished Alumni of the Year – Professional Excellence	This award recognises outstanding leaders in their industry or profession who have made or are making a significant and positive impact on their communities, their industry or the world.	Alumni who: demonstrate outstanding contributions to a workplace, profession or industry that are noteworthy and exceptional (at a local, national or international level) demonstrate accomplishment(s) that raise their profile and standing within their community, country or internationally and/or bring greater recognition to their profession demonstrate alignment with one or all of the University’s values of insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring.
Distinguished Alumnus of the Year – Research Excellence	This award recognises outstanding research leaders whose research is changing lives, or whose scholarly contributions have made a substantial impact in their field of research.	Alumni who: demonstrate sustained contributions to their field of research at local, national and/or international levels (and recognition at national and/or international levels) have made scholarly contributions and associated outreach efforts that have measurably and significantly improved the lives of people through engagement with their research outputs (including through industry, community, or government uptake of research findings/tools/policy recommendations etc.) demonstrate alignment with one or all of the University’s values of insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring.
Distinguished Alumni of the Year – Social Impact	This award recognises leaders/individuals whose professional or voluntary work has generated significant social impact to a group or wider community(ies).	Alumni who: demonstrate the positive impact they have had on their community and/or the University through their work in the profit, non-profit or public sector. Evidence may include, but is not limited to, positive contributions through social innovation, volunteerism, community development and/or corporate social responsibility can demonstrate the significant, long-term impact of their contribution to their community and/or the University demonstrate alignment with one or all of the University’s values of insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring.
Distinguished Alumni of the Year – Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Creativity	This award recognises alumni who have made an extraordinary impact through innovation in their industry or profession. This encompasses all industry sectors, for example, agriculture, technology, allied health, the arts, culture, and/or creative sectors.	Alumni who: demonstrate a strong entrepreneurial mindset and/or creative approach in their industry, profession or area of expertise have achieved recognition as an innovator or creative force within their industry, profession or area of expertise demonstrate alignment with one or all of the University’s values of insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring.
Distinguished Alumni of the Year – Young Alumni	This award recognises extraordinary achievements of our new graduates. Nominees must be under the age of 35.	Alumni who: are under the age of 35 and have demonstrated outstanding contributions to a workplace, profession or industry that is noteworthy and exceptional (at a local, national or international level) is under age 35 and whose accomplishment(s) raise their profile and standing within their community, country or internationally and/or bring greater recognition to their profession demonstrate alignment with one or all of the University’s values of insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring.
Distinguished Alumni of the Year – First Nations Alumni	This award recognises outstanding achievement or contribution by a First Nations alumni in their chosen industry, profession or field.	First Nations alumni who: demonstrate outstanding leadership in their community, industry or profession who have made or are making a significant difference in both local and/or wider communities or throughout the world demonstrate alignment with one or all of the University’s values of insightful, inclusive, impactful and inspiring.

(9) One award may be issued per year in each category.

(10) Each award will be in the form of a trophy and citation.

(11) The award winners will be announced and/or presented in the latter half of the calendar year (in a format and on a date determined by the Advancement Office).

Part B - Nomination and assessment of awards

Nominations

(12) Nominations in all categories can be made by Charles Sturt University alumni, staff members, students or family, friends, employees, employers or colleagues of Charles Sturt University alumni, and members of the general public.

(13) Alumni members may self-nominate. In such cases, the nomination must include a statement to support the official nomination from someone who is not the nominee.

(14) Alumni may be nominated for more than one category, but can only be shortlisted and eligible to win in one category in any one calendar year.

(15) Nominations must be submitted on the Nomination Form (and be no more than two pages in length) and must include:

a response to the selection criteria
a high resolution image
a referee statement
supporting evidence (CV or Linkedin profile, media articles, awards, etc.).

(16) Nominations must be submitted by the closing date via the online form on the Alumni awards website.

(17) Information is collected for the purposes of administering and promoting the Charles Sturt University Distinguished Alumni Awards. The University is committed to protecting the privacy of our alumni, see our privacy policy for information.

Determination

(18) The nominations will be assessed by an internal committee comprising of members from the University’s senior leadership team, faculty staff and the Advancement Office.

(19) Shortlisted award nominees who have been nominated by someone else will be contacted to ensure they are happy to formally accept the nomination prior to judging.

(20) A nominee who is not an award recipient but is selected as a finalist will have their nomination automatically carried over for reconsideration the following year (for up to two years).

(21) The decisions of the committee is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

(22) Distinguished Alumni Award winners will be decided by October each year, to be announced and/or presented in the latter half of the calendar year (in a format and on a date determined by the Advancement Office).

(23) Regardless of nominations received in any category, the University reserves the right to not grant an award for any reason.

Part C - Notification of outcomes

(24) All approved award recipients will be notified of the outcome of deliberations by the alumni team prior to the awards announcement.

(25) The results of the awards will be published across the University’s alumni and general media channels.

(26) Nominees who are not selected as a finalist or recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award will not be notified by the Advancement Office. It is at the discretion of the nominator as to whether or not they would like to advise the nominee of the outcome of the nomination (as many nominations are made in confidence). Nominees who self-nominate will be notified directly.

(27) Recognition of the award winners will include:

the Charles Sturt University graduation brochure, which will be updated annually to reflect the successful award recipients
a citation on the University’s Alumni webpage
featuring in the alumni magazine Thrive.

(28) Where appropriate, presentation of awards will occur at a suitable domestic event.

(29) The Vice-Chancellor may revoke an award where it has been awarded based on misleading or incomplete information, or for any other reason that might bring disrepute to the University or this award program.

Part D - Responsibilities

Compliance, monitoring and review

(30) The Associate Director, Development and Alumni Relations is responsible for administering the awards procedures.

(31) The Advancement Office Alumni team will undertake reporting, as required.

(32) The Advancement Office, Alumni team must maintain all records relevant to administering this procedure in a recognised University recordkeeping system.

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Section 5 - Guidelines

(33) Nil.