CAS IDEAL (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Access Leadership) Award

The CAS IDEAL is awarded annually to three CAS community members whose leadership advances the College’s strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion priorities and best exemplifies CAS’s aspiration to create a welcoming and inclusive community for all. The IDEAL Award recognizes an alumnus or student, a faculty member, and a staff member who demonstrate excellence in one or more of the following categories:

Civic DEI Engagement

  • An individual who has engaged in impactful work to advance access, equity, and/or inclusion through activism, advocacy, community organizing, civic contributions, and other public interventions.

Community Education and Advocacy

  • An individual (or group of individuals) who has developed, facilitated, and/or implemented projects focused on capacity building and community development in their department/program or in CAS.

Curricular Innovation

  • An individual who has developed or refined courses that challenge, deepen, and/or expand the scope of their respective field by addressing historic inequities and exclusions. Nominees will be asked to submit course syllabi, a course rationale, and relevant supplementary materials.

Department or Program Level Service

  • An individual who has significantly advanced a department or program’s access, equity, and inclusion goals.

Mentoring Excellence

  • An individual who has made a significant impact on the growth and development of professional colleagues and/or student peers.

Scholarly Innovation

  • An individual who has challenged their respective discipline to move toward greater access, equity, and inclusion through their published work, conference presentations, and/or service to professional associations. Nominees will be asked to submit a CV, rationale, and relevant supplementary materials.

Award Recipients

Recipients are recognized at CAS’s annual end of year awards ceremony. All recipients will receive an award and honorarium for their leadership.

Nominations

CAS community members are invited to nominate themselves and/or other community members for the awards categories. Please submit nominations for current students, faculty and staff via this form. To nominate alumni, please use the alumni nomination form. 

Selection Process

The CAS Dean’s office will invite a cross-section of the CAS community, including faculty, students, and staff, to review the nominations. The review committee will regularly include members from the CAS Diversity and Inclusion Action Team (DIAT) and the CAS DEI committee and liaison network.

The committee will evaluate nominees based on the criteria for each category. During the ceremony elements of the nominating letters and comments from the review committee will be incorporated to illuminate specific aspects of the recipient’s leadership.