Texas Tech University

Presidential Departmental Excellence in Safety Award

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 CommitteeInstitutional Review BoardInstitutional 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

Raider RAMP

Contact Academic Safety

Download your Award Application cover sheet below to get started! 

Award Application Cover Sheet 

*Download and save document  and open to edit using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Pro