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Linda Lorimer Award
2024 Nominations
All members of our faculty and staff may nominate an individual staff member or team of staff members for consideration for a Linda Lorimer Award for Distinguished Service. Learn more about the award and nomination process.
Please note that the 2024 nomination period has ended. View the 2024 award recipients and look for nominations to reopen in August 2025.
About the Award
Thank you for your interest in the Linda Lorimer Award for Distinguished Service, which is conferred by President McInnis to recognize individuals and teams among the Yale staff who have distinguished themselves through a commitment to excellence and innovative thinking. Established in 2014, the award was renamed in 2015 to honor Linda Lorimer on the occasion of her retirement from the vice presidency after nearly thirty years of extraordinary service to the university.
The Linda Lorimer Award for Distinguished Service honors staff members whose work supports and furthers Yale’s achievement of its core mission. There are so many inspiring stories of staff members making unique and important contributions to university success that we want to share them more broadly with the Yale community.
Individuals and teams receiving this honor may be selected for a wide range of achievements. Some will involve innovation. Others will exemplify speed and responsiveness. Still others will be illustrations of service breakthroughs or extraordinary commitment. While most outcomes recognized will have a measurable end result, some will be for less quantifiable benefits like enhanced teamwork, development, or diversity. The common thread for all award recipients will be their exemplary leadership and the excellence of their work.
Eligibility
The Linda Lorimer Award for Distinguished Service is intended to acknowledge the work of staff members engaged in supporting the university through service and administrative work. These awards are not intended to recognize faculty research or teaching accomplishments, nor are they meant to acknowledge student achievements. Both teams and individuals are eligible to be nominated for the award. A recipient of this award must be a current Yale employee at the time the award is given. Consultants and temporary/casual employees are not eligible for the award.
Members who serve on the Linda Lorimer Award Committee are not eligible for a team or individual award during the year they serve.
Nomination Process
Who Can Nominate
All members of our faculty and staff are eligible to nominate an individual or a team for consideration.
Nomination Deadline
Completion of the nomination form is required for consideration for a Linda Lorimer Award for Distinguished Service.
Selection Criteria and Process
Results and Impact
The award recognizes individuals or teams whose work has contributed significantly and has had a positive impact (on people, processes, places, products, technology, budgets, etc.) in one or more of the following ways:
- Establishing a best practice
- Preserving and/or disseminating knowledge
- Enhancing communications or understanding
- Achieving savings (e.g. time, effort, money)
- Initiating or inventing something completely new that adds real value
- Influencing or accelerating positive change
- Improving quality and/or productivity
- Enhancing employee engagement
- Improving diversity/inclusion/cross-cultural understanding
- Unifying the community
- Enhancing accessibility
Characteristics of Nominated Individuals or Teams
- Inspirational leadership
- Commitment and effort above and beyond expectations
- Initiative
- Creativity; innovation
- Application of technology
- Collaboration across boundaries
- Inclusiveness
- Outstanding service
- Stamina and perseverance
Selection Process
Final award winners will be selected by the president and a committee of senior leaders.