Who is Eligible for a COSA?
Nominees must be UC Berkeley career staff (appointment type 2) or Contract (appointment type 1) staff members with non-executive tier titles (i.e., not SMG, Senior Management Group) and have at least one year of employment at UC Berkeley.
Academic appointees (both senate and non-senate) are not eligible. A staff member who has received an individual COSA within the last three years is not eligible for an individual award.
Individual awards are for work performance occurring within the last three years.
Who Can Nominate?
Any member of the campus community, including staff, faculty, and students, may submit nominations. Nominations need not come from the nominee's supervisor or department. Each nomination must be supported by two different individuals: the primary nominator and a supporting nominator.
Self-nominations will not be considered.
What happened to COSA Team awards?
As a committee and with the full support of the Chancellor's Office, we decided to remove team awards for consideration due to time constraints and lack of resources (starting in 2025). Please consider nominating individual staff members -- even if they have worked on a specific project with others -- who demonstrated excellence in two of the COSA criteria. Additionally, here are a list of other awards that staff are also eligible for.
What Makes A Succesful Nomination? How Can I Best Communicate Why My Nominee Deserves a COSA?
Every year, many deserving staff are nominated for a COSA. The Chancellor and her designees, the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee, strive to ensure the most exceptional of the nominated staff receive a COSA. The best way to ensure a successful nomination is to follow all directions on the nomination form. Answer all the questions completely--clearly explain how your nominee has exemplified two of the criterion of excellence and how they have demonstrated exceptional initiative to create significant positive impact on the UC Berkeley campus community. The reviewers may not have a thorough knowledge of your area of campus, your unit, your internal processes and organization; give specific examples and enough context to enable to reviewers to understand the exceptional nature of your nominee’s accomplishments.
When Will I or My Nominee Hear If My Nomination Was Succesful?
For the 2025 COSA cycle, award recipients and their primary nominator will be informed by the end of March 2025. The primary nominator for employees not chosen to receive a COSA will also be informed by the end of March 2025.
Employees who are nominated but not chosen to receive a COSA will not be informed by CSAC. It is up to the nominator(s) if they wish to inform their nominee(s) that they were nominated. For your convenience, CSAC also provides a list of other award programs that recognize staff achievement.
When Will The Next COSA Award Ceremony Be Held?
Traditionally, COSA Award Ceremonies are held in April of each year. Stay tuned for more information for next year's event!
Questions
If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at cosa@lists.berkeley.edu.