Congratulations to Our 2024 Higher Education HR Award Recipients!

From creating innovative career development programs to fostering cross-campus collaboration, higher ed HR professionals across the country are finding innovative ways every day to accomplish their institutional missions and priorities. CUPA-HR’s Higher Education HR Awards program recognizes some of the best and brightest in higher ed HR and honors HR professionals who have given their time and talents to the association. Here are our 2024 honorees.

Donald E. Dickason Award

This award, named for the association’s founder, is CUPA-HR’s highest honor and recognizes an individual for exceptional leadership and service to CUPA-HR.

Jeff Herring 

Jeff Herring, chief human resources officer at the University of Utah and a long-time member of CUPA-HR, served as chair of the board of directors during the 2021-22 fiscal year. Prior to his election as chair of the board, he served in many association leadership roles including chair of the Research Advisory Committee; treasurer and at-large member of the national board; member of the Learning and Professional Development and Public Policy committees; and participant in the Emerging CUPA-HR Leaders Program. Herring continues to be an active member of the association, serving on the Creating Inclusive Communities Steering Committee and acting as a guide for the Emerging CUPA-HR Leaders Program.

Thanks to the generous support of award sponsor TIAA, CUPA-HR has made an $8,000 contribution to the University of Utah’s College of Humanities, the college Herring graduated from, to be used for student scholarships.

Distinguished Service Award

This award recognizes an individual for distinguished leadership and service to CUPA-HR. In 2024, two of our past leaders received the award.

Yohna J. Chambers

Yohna J. Chambers, vice chancellor for human resources and chief human resources officer at Texas Christian University, has served in many CUPA-HR leadership positions, including president of the Virginia Chapter; chair, treasurer and at-large member of the Southern Region board; and Southern Region representative on the national board. She was also a long-time member of the Public Policy Committee in addition to serving as a member of the National Awards Committee. Chambers also acted as a CUPA-HR Annual Conference Ambassador, where she welcomed and engaged with first-time conference attendees.

In honor of Chambers, CUPA-HR has made a $4,000 contribution to Texas Christian University’s The Employee Emergency Grant Program, which provides financial assistance to employees who are experiencing a temporary financial hardship.

Renee Hiller

Renee Hiller, vice president for human resources and workplace experience at St. Cloud State University, has served in many CUPA-HR leadership positions, including at-large member, secretary and president of the Michigan Chapter; at-large member, director of membership and chapter engagement, and chair of the Midwest Region board; and Midwest Region representative on the national board. She has also been a member of the Learning and Professional Development, Budget and Finance, and National Awards committees, in addition to serving on the Governance Task Force and Midwest Region Program committees.

In honor of Hiller, CUPA-HR has made a $4,000 contribution to St. Cloud State University, where it will be used to advance professional development opportunities for the SCSU HR staff to support employee experience initiatives.

Chief Executive HR Champion Award

Recognizing that what makes an institution great are its people, this award honors the president or chancellor of a higher ed institution or system who has demonstrated significant support for the institution’s HR work.

Guy Bailey, President of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Under the leadership of Guy Bailey, president of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, UTRGV launched an accredited Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration program offered at no-cost to eligible faculty and staff. The master’s program prepares those who aspire to leadership positions in key college or university administrative areas with the required knowledge, skills and competencies that higher education administrators need to enter such positions and is an important part of the university’s succession planning strategy. President Bailey has demonstrated his commitment to the program by increasing the number of program scholarships from 50 to 100 and acting as the instructor of record for the Finance in Higher Education class.

President Bailey has also approved funding for several human resources employees to become certified leadership coaches and to allow for additional certification in emotional intelligence assessments and 360-degree assessments so that those services can be offered to faculty, staff and student leaders.

Thanks to the generous support of award sponsor Segal, CUPA-HR has made an $8,000 contribution to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Dr. Bailey and his wife, Val La Mantia, each matched the amount from Segal, raising the total contribution to $24,000. The funds will support scholarships for employees who wish to pursue further education.

Inclusion Cultivates Excellence Award

This award recognizes and celebrates institutional initiatives and programs that have made a significant impact with respect to inclusive and equitable workplace practices, particularly those that have brought about cultural change throughout the organization.

Minority Professional Development Internship Program, Duquesne University 

In alignment with Duquesne University’s strategic plan, which calls for an increase in diversity by expanding the number of women and minorities in leadership roles, the Minority Professional Development Internship Program provides employment opportunities to unemployed or underemployed college-educated women and minorities through compensated, full-time, temporary employment at the institution. The program provides basic managerial training, offers interns the opportunity to build their knowledge and skills, and increases their chances of gaining permanent employment at the institution or other organizations in Pittsburgh.

Since its creation in 2007, the Minority Professional Development Internship Program has hired 36 interns, many of whom have been promoted to permanent positions at the university, with several others serving in various positions within the community.

Thanks to the generous support of EyeMed, CUPA-HR is pleased to offer a $5,000 contribution to Duquesne University.

HR Innovation Award

The HR Innovation Award honors transformative thinking in higher education HR, recognizing a new and innovative HR team, project or program that resulted in significant and ongoing organizational change within an institution.

Career Development Coaching for Staff, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

After reviewing findings from employee satisfaction surveys and exit interviews that indicated staff were seeking greater institutional support for their career development, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s HR department launched an innovative new Career Development unit in 2022 with the goal of building, growing and sustaining the most comprehensive career development program in higher education. Since the program launched, the unit’s two career development coaches, Nancy Burkett and Cearra Sears, have provided coaching for over 200 staff members and 76 sessions and events on a variety of career development topics serving over 1400 staff. Additionally, in the fall of 2023, the unit created the Design Your Life Professional Fellowship, a 12-week cohort program that provides experiential learning opportunities by allowing participants to spend several hours each week working on projects in different areas of the university.

The career development unit has seen enormous success in the 19 months since its creation. Some notable achievements include: 20% of staff who received career coaching advanced into new roles within six months of attending coaching sessions; 95% of staff reported that coaching exceeded their expectations and that the experience increased confidence, validation, affirmation, and hope as a result of coaching; and of the 10 fall 2023 Design Your Life Professional Fellowship cohort members, two advanced into new roles at the university after the fellowship.

In recognition of the unit’s work, CUPA-HR is pleased to make a $5,000 contribution to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Higher Ed HR Rock Star Award

This award recognizes a CUPA-HR member who is serving in the first five years of a higher education HR career and has already made a significant impact.

Michael Vivenzio

Michael Vivenzio, talent and development manager at Bergen Community College, has made a significant impact at his institution in his two years with the human resources department. He fosters a welcoming and collaborative environment both within and outside the HR department and has worked diligently to build relationships during a time of leadership change at the college. He has also demonstrated outside-the-box thinking by implementing innovative training approaches for new managers, and he has embraced data-informed decision-making to drive improvements in performance review and faculty salary-setting processes. Michael has distinguished himself as a leader on campus whose input and recommendations are valued.

National Chapter Excellence Award

This national award recognizes a chapter that is making a significant impact through its commitment to CUPA-HR and to the higher ed HR community. The recipient is chosen from the recipients of CUPA-HR’s Regional Chapter Excellence Awards.

Washington Chapter 

The Washington Chapter has demonstrated its commitment to helping CUPA-HR members connect by hosting a series of free webinars covering valuable topics that regularly see attendance of 50-100+ people. They also recently launched a CUPA-HR Connect community to provide ongoing connection and engagement opportunities. The chapter has a strong board succession plan in place that creates a pipeline of experienced board members who can transfer knowledge to incoming board members. New board members are assigned duties under the direction of a longer-term board member to ensure the continuity of programs and services is maintained.

Congratulations to our other Regional Chapter Excellence Award recipients: the New Jersey Chapter and the Illinois Chapter!

Do You Know Someone Doing Award-Worthy Work?

CUPA-HR invites nominations for the Higher Education HR Awards beginning in January each year. In addition to an engraved award and national recognition, some awards include a monetary contribution to the award recipient’s institution, made possible through the generous support of our award sponsors.