Linda Lorimer Award

Celebrating distinguished service

The Linda K. Lorimer Award recognizes individuals and teams among the Yale staff who have distinguished themselves through a commitment to excellence and innovative thinking.

How to nominate

Nominations for the 2026 award period will open on Thursday, August 13 and run through Tuesday, September 8. The link to the nomination form will be available on this page during the nomination period.

LKL award ceremony.

About the Award

Thank you for your interest in the Linda Lorimer Award for Distinguished Service. These awards are 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 engagement. The common thread for all award recipients will be their exemplary leadership and the excellence of their work.

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 staff member may receive the award no more than twice during their career at Yale and must be an active employee at the time of presentation. 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.

Who Can Nominate

All members of our faculty and staff may nominate an individual or a team for consideration. One nomination per individual or team will be considered. Multiple nominators may be listed on the nomination form; the primary nominator designated on the form will be the point of contact.

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
  • 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.

Important information about completing the nomination form

A link to the current nomination form will appear at the top of this page during the nomination period. To prepare to submit a nomination for the Linda Lorimer Award, please note the following important information:

  • This award is designed to recognize significant, impactful accomplishments and breakthrough projects by Yale support staff members in their line of work that demonstrate exceptional innovation, creativity, and excellence. It is not intended to honor lifetime achievement or long-term service, which we recognize through other programs.
  • Team nominations should be limited to a maximum of seven team members who are key contributors to the success of the initiative.
  • The primary nominator will be the point of contact for the nomination. Only one nomination per individual or team will be considered for advancement. Rather than submit multiple nominations for the same initiative, you may indicate additional nominators on the same form under additional support.
  • Ideal nominations are strongly written and provide sufficient detail of the accomplishment including supporting metrics and noteworthy behaviors that contributed to the achievement.
  • Please note that you will not be able to return to an incomplete nomination form to update at a later time. To prepare, note the required fields and word limits in the sample form below. Save your answers in a separate document for future reference as the system does not provide access to your responses.

Nomination form fields

The following are the fields you can anticipate completing in the online nomination form that is available during the annual three-week nomination period. Please note that the essay fields have a word/character limit that can be checked using MS Word.

View nomination form fields