Overview
The President's Departmental Excellence in Safety Award (henceforth referred to as Award) is an annual award given to a department or similar academic unit to recognize excellence in safety in research, scholarly and creative activity, and teaching.
Safety excellence encompasses departmental programs designed to mitigate chemical, physical, and/or biological hazards associated with research and teaching areas where departments have gone above and beyond to ensure the validity of research and the well-being of researchers and students.
The award consists of a $25,000 fund to the department to further enhance its safety mission. Proposed use of the funds is a critical component of the application process.
Applications are now closed. Submissions for 2024 will open on December 2, 2024. The due date for the 2024 cycle in Friday, March 21, 2025.
Application Guidelines
The award application packet must consist of the award the application cover sheet and a 4-6 page document addressing the review criteria described on the cover sheet. The document should be prepared by a group of faculty, such as a departmental safety committee or ad hoc committee. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
The award application cover sheet must be electronically signed by the Chair of the Department and the Dean of the College. There is no limit on the number of applications within a college, and the Dean of the college should not rank the applications. The Dean's signature is to signify that the college is aware of the application and understands that funds from the award are to be used to augment the awardee department's safety infrastructure and goals.
Past recipients may reapply for the award after five years since receipt.
Submission Process
Download the application form* and submit your application through Texas Tech Competition Space (InfoReady). Applicants are encouraged to contact EHS and compliance committee chairs for supporting information to include in application details.
*Download and save document and open to edit using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Pro
Review Process
An ad hoc committee will be formed from the chairs of the following Institutional Compliance Committees and the Assistant Vice President for Environmental Health & Safety: Institutional Laboratory Safety Committee, Institutional Review Board, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Institutional Radiation & Laser Safety Committee and the Institutional Biosafety Committee. Additional committee members may be added to evaluate proposals as needed.
The scoring process uses Olympic scoring, where the highest and lowest scores are removed from the score average. This scoring system eliminates the need for the committee members to recuse themselves from scoring/voting and mitigates conflicts of interest. The final scores and recommendation of the committee will be forwarded to the Vice President for Research and Innovation and the President for the final award decision.
Application submitters will be notifed of award selection or rejection by Texas Tech Competition Space (InfoReady). Questions can be sent to safety@ttu.edu.
Past Recipients
These outstanding departments received the Presidential Departmental Excellence in Safety Award.
Year | Recipient |
2019 | Environmental Toxicology |
2020 | Chemistry & Biochemistry |
2021 | Chemical Engineering |
2022 | Huckabee College of Architecture |
2023 | School of Theatre & Dance |
Application Resources
Contact Academic Safety
Download your Award Application cover sheet below to get started!
*Download and save document and open to edit using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Pro
Environmental Health & Safety
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Address
Texas Tech University, 407 Flint Ave, Lubbock, TX 79409 (Mail Stop 1090) -
Phone
806.742.3876 -
Email
safety@ttu.edu