On Wednesday, March 20 at 3:30 p.m., a Mission Day ceremony will be held in the Fourth Floor Board room to award a faculty member, a staff member, and a student for their excellent service.
“So anyone can nominate anyone, you can nominate a faculty member, staff member, another student, and you can even nominate yourself . A committee of staff looks at all the staff nominations and makes a recommendation to the President. The faculty committee does the same for the faculty member, and Student Affairs look at student nominations,” states Sister Joy Clough.
All nominations for faculty members must go to the Provost Office. For staff, all nominations go to the President of the Staff Council while all nominations for students go to Student Affairs.
Flyers containing information on the criteria, procedure and deadlines are posted around campus as well as online at www.sxu.edu and will be posted on www.sxu.edu.
Although anyone is allowed to nominate anyone, these prestigious awards go to a faculty member, staff member, and a student who fit the criteria.
“The emphasis is on service. For the student, it is basically service at and beyond Saint Xavier. For the staff member, it’s an emphasis on service with looking at, in a lot of ways, how they live the university core values. With the faculty member it is how their service of teaching, scholarship, community service, and how have they amassed a body of work; a way of living the academic life that shows excellence,” says Sister Joy.
There are three different awards. The Saint Xavier University Award goes to a recognized faculty member, The Sister Isidore Perrigo, R.S.M. Staff Service Awards goes to a recognized staff member, and The Mother Paulita Morris, R.S.M. Student Service Award goes to a recognized student.
When asked about how the name of the awards came about, Sister Joy explained that both the Sister Isidore Perrigo award and the Mother Paulita Morris award have some history to them.
“Sister Isidore was a Sisters of Mercy, who worked at Saint Xavier a long time ago when it was not only a college but also a high school and a grammar school. She was in charge of what was called ‘the candy department,’’’ Sister Joy explains.
After Sister Isidore’s passing, the Sisters of Mercy were looking to purchase property around this area to build a college. The Sisters of Mercy came about a broker (the brother of a man named Lindheimer who was Sister Isidore’s good friend), who remembered how Sister Isidore was kind to his younger sister. Due to her kindness and generosity Saint Xavier University found its way.
When it comes to the Mother Paulita Morris Award, Sister Joy says that Mother Paulita Morris “was on the board for Saint Xavier for an incredibly long time. She was very interested in advancing peoples understanding of their faith. She saw that importance of service as a way of living your faith.”
Sister Joy later explains that due to Mother Paulita’s Morris’s interest in advancing people’s faith by a way of service, students are receieving an award fit to be in her name.
When a University member nominates another member, the nominee receives a notification and has the opportunity to accept that nomination.
“It does not take a lot to nominate, and it is a very good way to think about how we are living our mission on Mission Day and how can we say to people who are outstanding and living the mission, thank you for doing that, for your example, and for encouraging the rest of us,” Sister Joy states.
The nomination process is just opening and ready for University members to begin recognizing those who show an outstanding service to the University and to the community.
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