CAPA announces winner of the Outstanding Unit Award

by Leslie Zenk

October 22, 2008

The Council of Academic Professionals and Administrators (CAPA) recently announced the winner of the 2007-08 Outstanding Unit Award--the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (UMTC). The Outstanding Unit Award recognizes units and departments within the University of Minnesota that are exemplary in their support of Professional and Administrative (P&A) staff. In addition, the award acknowledges the work of P&A staff members within these units who have made distinguished contributions to the mission of their unit and the University. As a recipient of the Outstanding Unit Award, Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences will receive a certificate and $1,000 for a unit-centered professional development initiative.

The Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences' outstanding work in providing support for the achievements and contributions of P&A staff is exemplary. The department works very hard to support individuals' careers, including routinely recognizing the outstanding achievements of P&A employees through departmental communications and by seeking out opportunities to promote the work of employees through the media.

P&A employees in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences are supported in many ways. They are given full participation rights in unit governance and college and University committees and a new constitution clarifies and supports the integral role of P&A employees in the department. Professional development opportunities are also fully supported, including allocation of equal travel funds to P&A employees as tenure-track employees as well as annual professional licensing and certification fees.

In their award application, Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences noted that they are committed to promoting these types of educational experiences: "Not only do they support P&A career growth and satisfaction, these experiences promote new kinds of expertise to be passed on to students."

The application materials further note that, "P&A employees in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences make a central contribution to the teaching, research, and service missions of the department, and the department systematically works to support and increase the visibility of these contributions."**

The Outstanding Unit Award is a University-wide award; call for nominations for the 2008-09 award will be in Spring 2009. Past winners of the Outstanding Unit Award have included University Libraries (2001), General College (2002), the School of Social Work (2003), the Chemistry Department (2004), the College of Human Ecology (2005), and the Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning (2006).

CAPA is the University-wide governance body that represents more than 4,000 professional and administrative employees. P&A employees are an integral part of the U's work: they teach and advise students, conduct research, direct programs, manage budgets, administer departments, and reach out to citizens all over Minnesota. To learn more about CAPA or the Outstanding Unit Award winner, please visit the CAPA website, or the Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences website.

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