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These awards are among the highest honors bestowed upon staff by the Chancellor. The Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC) established and administers this award program. A limited number of awards are granted each year, and nominations are evaluated based on a set of defined criteria. COSA recipients are recognized at a ceremony held in the spring with the Chancellor and other key senior administrators in attendance.
The COSA is one of several ways in which staff achievement at UC Berkeley can be honored; please see Other Campus Staff Awards for which your nominee(s) may qualify.
2012 Recipients will be honored at an Award Ceremony on April 23, 2012. Please click on the Ceremony page for information on the venue and how to RSVP.
For those who cannot attend we will also broadcast the ceremony live via http://www.ustream.tv/user/CSACatUCB
The nomination window for the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards is now closed. Please check back at the end of 2012 when we will open nomination for the 2013 COSAs.
2012 Recipients will be announced this spring and will be contacted to attend the awards ceremony in April 2012.
Congratulations to the 2012 recipients of the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award.
See an archive of previous (since 1988) COSA recipients.
Contact CSAC member Norman Tom; email cosa [at] lists.berkeley.edu 642-3166.
"Winning the COSA is a remarkable feeling. You work hard every day but sometimes wonder if anybody notices. The COSA lets you know that people DEFINITELY notice! Being celebrated at the ceremony is also a special honor. My COSA award continues to be a point of pride on my resume and has sparked interesting conversations during job interviews."
—Katie Dustin, 2003 Individual COSA Recipient
"Receiving the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award (COSA) in 2004 was one of the highlights of my Berkeley career. It was an unexpected honor to learn that I had received the award, but when I attended the ceremony and learned of other recipients' achievements, I felt intensely proud and privileged to be included in this group. It seems to me that it is rare for this campus to gather as one community to formally recognize and thank individual staff for their contributions. Receiving the award and attending the ceremony was just such an occasion, and it was tremendously inspiring and memorable."
—Linda Song, 2004 Individual COSA Recipient
"This award was extremely valuable in that it recognized a campus-wide impact project, the results of which became very popular and, in all practicality, changed the way we do business for Campus Fundraising. The effort that was rewarded was initiated by the programming staff themselves. Management supported the project unconditionally and in the end, it also served as an excellent demonstration of how employee initiative can have a huge influence on business processes.
"It felt prestigious to receive this award. Further, even before being selected, I felt honored by the submission alone. The beautiful framed certificate and picture of the group lives on my office wall.
"The impact it had on me was a feeling of being respected and recognized. I have always felt well supported by management in the decisions I make each day, but this project, and the resulting campus wide recognition, surely lent additional credibility to my participation projects and daily decisions."
—Rannah McIntosh, 2004 Team COSA Recipient
"When I first started working for UCB, fourteen years ago, I never imagined I would be the recipient of the COSA award. It was an honor to receive the award in the presence of my director, supervisor, friends and colleagues.
"I still remember the announcement, I know I heard my name, but I was unable to move. It was an honor for me to receive the award from Chancellor Birgeneau. I am glad I have a picture to remember that particular day.
"How did my life change? Well, it made me realize that people really noticed my work. I realized that working for this institution is a blessing. My philosophy was reinforced... Many people work all their lives without a purpose, I have chosen to make a difference in every task I perform no matter how insignificant it may appear. I give it my all."
—Nanette Woodson, 2005 Individual COSA Recipient
"The COSA award is really an amazing thing. It's one of the few campus-wide visible awards that a staff member can win in which the nomination can be made by anyone - staff or students or faculty. Unlike many forms of recognition we give our employees, this one is top-down AND bottom-up.
"When I won my first COSA, it meant a lot, because the nomination was made by a group of graduate students with whom I worked. When I oversaw a Student Services unit in a department, I oversaw the administration of the graduate program, which included Admissions, Financial Aid, employment, payroll for graduate students, registration, enrollment and fee remission credits. To know that 50 students have been touched by your work, your passion, and your engagement to the extent that they nominated me for the award was an exciting honor.
"My second COSA was different, in that my Dean nominated me. And he attended the ceremony, which meant a lot to me. To know that your boss understands and support the mission and values of rewarding staff for doing the job well is not as common as you might think.
"My COSA Bear Plaque sits front and center on my desk, and it's something I'm very proud of. When people are in my office, they can see that I remain engaged and committed to a sense of excellence, and it builds a sense of credibility and trust that's hard to explain in words.
"I am proud to have been a COSA recipient, and am prouder still of working in an organization that values its employees publicly, while allowing nominations to come from all sectors of the university."
—Sandra Rollins Ketchpel, 1995 and 2002 Individual COSA Recipient
"I have always felt privileged to be an employee of UC Berkeley. Just being a "player" within this large community of dedicated and highly-capable individuals is a great experience in and of itself. To then receive special recognition through COSA is an extreme honor. The COSA program has inspired my continued pride in our excellent institution and sustains my continued best efforts."
—Karen Eft, 2006 Team COSA Recipient