Hugi Excellence Award
Program Goal
The goal of the Hugi Excellence Award, named in honor of Joanne R. Hugi, is to recognize and share information about outstanding IT practices among higher education institutions of the Pacific Northwest. Exemplars identified by this program are intended to provide useful models for improving technology resources throughout the region. Awards may be made in the following categories:
Academic technologies: Achievements in the use of information technologies for teaching, learning, or research; innovations in learning space design.
Technology infrastructure: Achievements in voice, data, or video networking, mobile technologies, provision of network services, security practices, and data center design.
Business processes and systems: Achievements in the development or use of administrative information technologies and IT-based business practices.
IT management and administration: Achievements in governance and policies, organizational structure, staff deployment, staff development, management practices, and funding models.
Eligibility
NWACC Board members as well as administrators, faculty, and staff from NWACC institutions are eligible to submit proposals for the Hugi Excellence Award.
Evaluation Criteria
Practices submitted for consideration will be evaluated on each of the following criteria. Entries should address these criteria explicitly:
Innovation: In what way(s) does the practice represent a step forward in the use, support, or creation of information technology?
Benefits: Who are the beneficiaries of the practice and in what ways are educational, research, or institutional goals advanced by the practice?
Replicability: To what extent can the practice serve as a model for other institutions?
Costs: What resources are invested in the practice and is the practice cost-effective?
Scoring Method
Each application will be awarded a point score on a 0 to 3 scale by each Award Committee evaluator. The point scale is:
INNOVATION:
3 - First of a kind technology, or creative extension of an existing technology or business/management process.
2 - Early adoption or first of a kind use of an existing technology or business/management process.
1 - Solid implementation or application of an existing technology or business/management process.
0 - No evidence of innovation included in the submission.
BENEFITS:
3 - The practice is aligned to and significantly enables institutional strategy/strategic goals.
2 - The practice contributes to strategic goals or significantly improves operational effectiveness.
1 - The practice provides a basic contribution to mission success or effective operations.
0 - No evidence of strategic or operational benefit included in the submission.
REPLICABILITY:
3 - All elements of the practice are public domain and easily implemented by others.
2 - The practice is well defined and can be implemented by others with moderate effort and/or expense.
1 - The practice can be emulated by others with significant effort or expense.
0 - No evidence that practice can be emulated by others.
COSTS:
3 - The practice results in a significant, quantifiable financial Return on Investment.
2 - The Return on Investment is not quantifiable, but the benefits clearly exceed costs.
1 - The practice was efficiently implemented, but no clear financial benefit is identifiable which exceeds the cost to implement.
0 - The practice is not considered to be cost effective, as the benefit clearly does not exceed the implementation cost.
Submitting an Entry
To submit an entry, create a web page within your institution’s domain that includes the following:
- Name of the practice submitted for consideration
- Institution name
- The award category relevant to the submission (see Program Goal section for categories)*
- Description of the practice
- Responses to the evaluation criteria questions
- Links to pages related to the practice itself (optional)
- Name, title, email address, and phone number of principle contact
- Names and email addresses of others responsible for the practice
The URL to this web page should be sent to nwacc@reed.edu by 5:00 p.m. PST on March 14, 2008. Winning entries and those receiving honorable mention will be linked from the NWACC web site and publicized both inside and outside of NWACC.
* The Award Committee reserves the right to award in a different category than that specified in the original submission, as appropriate.
Awards
Up to four awards may be made each year in any combination of the categories listed above. NWACC reserves the right to make no awards in a given year.
Award Presentations
One representative from an award winning group will be invited to attend the spring NWACC CIO Summit. NWACC will pay lodging and travel costs for the representative. Award representatives will receive a plaque recognizing their institution's achievement.
2008 Timeline
| January 15 | Solicitation of entries |
| March 14 | Deadline for submissions (5:00pm PST) |
| April 15 | Award decisions sent to entrants and NWACC Board |
| May 1 | Award web page linked from NWACC Web site |
| June 3-4 | Award presented at the annual NWACC conference |
Organizational Contact
If you would like to discuss an idea for an award entry, please contact your organization's NWACC representative.