Higher Education HR Awards

Higher Ed HR Rock Star Award

Nominations are now closed. Award nominators and recipients will be notified in late June.

Leaders do not need to have decades of service to have an impact! This award recognizes a CUPA-HR member who is serving in the first five years of a higher education HR career who has already made a significant impact.

The recipient of the HR Rock Star Award will be acknowledged during a virtual awards presentation. The award recipient will be encouraged to give back to and engage with CUPA-HR.

Criteria

To be nominated, the individual must have:

• 1-5 years of higher education HR experience but no more than 10 years of total HR experience.
• Supervisor’s support (either through a nomination submitted by the supervisor or a letter of support included with a nomination).
• Clearly impacted the institution in the following ways:
  • Engagement, inspiration and positive impact to department and/or institution
  • Contribution of proactive, innovative ideas
  • Thinking outside the box for solutions
  • Emerging leadership skills
  • Passion for higher education HR

All nominees must be employed by a CUPA-HR member institution.

Eligibility Note: Individuals who are employed by the association, individuals who serve on the CUPA-HR national board of directors, and the institutions of those directors are not eligible to be nominated or selected for awards during their terms of service.

Stacey Ellis, Faculty and Staff Engagement Program Manager at George Mason University, received CUPA-HR’s Higher Ed HR Rock Star Award in 2025.