RoPE Awards

1. 1. Purpose

   1. Early career awards recognize and reward full-time employees in good standing that have demonstrated sustained outstanding performance during their early career. Outstanding performance includes excellence in attitude, dedication, initiative, leadership, and service in job-related activities that advance the mission of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and benefit the programs that they represent.

2. 2. Early Career Definition, Eligibility, and Reward

   1. Early Career Definition:
      • Exempt and Non-Exempt full-time program support staff: Must have completed a minimum of two (2) years and no more than seven (7) years of continuous service with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station before nomination. Employee must be in good standing.
      • Faculty: Must have the title of assistant professor at the time of nomination.
   2. Eligible employees must hold a majority (>50%) AAES appointment.
   3. Awards are based on merit and do not have to be conferred annually.
   4. A person may win an early career award within a category only once.
   5. Award recipients will receive a one-time award of $2,500.

3. 3. Early Career Award Categories

   1. Non-exempt staff – Research Support
   2. Non-exempt staff – Business and Administrative Support
   3. Exempt staff – Research Support
   4. Exempt staff – Business and Administrative Support
   5. Faculty

4. 4. Nomination

   1. Units are limited to a maximum of two nominations within each award category per year and all nominations should come from the unit administrator.
   2. The nomination will consist of two or three letters, each having a two-page, single-spaced text maximum length.
      1. Nomination letter from the unit’s administrative head and
      2. Supporting letters from one or two employees knowledgeable of the nominee’s skill set and job performance.
   3. The nomination letter should address the following areas:
      1. Summarize the nominee’s job responsibilities, annual evaluation ratings that support excellence, and list the nominee’s accomplishments, including the relevant metrics used to evaluate excellence.
      2. Describe the nominee’s initiative, service, professionalism, and leadership, and give examples that show how the nominee’s efforts contribute to and advance the mission of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
      3. Highlight how the nominee’s efforts were critical to programmatic outcomes and outputs that justify their nomination for the early career award.
      4. Include the nominee’s employment start date as listed in Workday.
   4. The supporting letter(s) should address items two (ii) and three (iii) above.
   5. Nominations and updated letters should be submitted annually for eligible nominees. Nominations do not automatically roll over the following year.

5. 5. Review Committees

   1. Each year, the Senior Associate Vice President for Agriculture-Research will appoint three 5-member committees to review nominations in each of the following categories:
      1. Research Support – Exempt and Non-Exempt
      2. Business and Administrative Support – Exempt and Non-Exempt
      3. Faculty
   2. Committee members must attend the meeting (in person or virtually) to vote.
   3. A non-voting administrative chairperson will coordinate and receive nomination materials, schedule committee meetings, and provide administrative continuity to each committee.
   4. The appointed committees will recommend award recipients to the Senior Associate Vice President for Agriculture-Research.
   5. The charge of the awards committee is two-fold:
      1. To select the best nominee in each award category, and
      2. To vote on whether to recommend the top nominee in each category for the award.
   6. A committee majority vote is required to recommend an award. The committees will forward recommendations for each award to the Senior Associate Vice President-Research for approval.

6. 6. Announcement and Selection Timeline

   1. The Senior Associate Vice President for Agriculture-Research will announce the call for award nominations annually in December.
   2. Winners will be announced and awards presented at the annual AAES Spring Faculty and Staff Reception.

RoPE Awards Winners