Student Success Awards
The new Student Success Awards were created to highlight and recognize the people, programs, and initiatives that contribute to student success across LSU. These awards celebrate the faculty, individuals, teams, and innovative approaches that make a meaningful difference in students’ academic journeys and in and out of the classroom. By recognizing excellence in teaching, innovation, and impactful contributions, these awards highlight the dedication and creativity that help students overcome barriers, access resources, persist toward graduation, and achieve their goals. Together, they underscore LSU’s ongoing commitment to fostering a supportive environment where all students have the opportunity to succeed.
Finalists and recipients will be recognized at the 2027 Student Success Summit.
Nominations for all awards are due December 1, 2026 by 11:59 PM.
Student Success through Teaching
The Student Success Through Teaching Award recognizes an LSU faculty member who demonstrates an exceptional commitment to helping students succeed academically and persist toward graduation. This award celebrates faculty who go beyond delivering course content to create supportive learning environments, identify and address barriers to student success, and help students build the skills and confidence needed to achieve their academic goals.
Through innovative teaching practices, meaningful student engagement, proactive intervention, and collaboration with campus resources, recipients demonstrate the important role faculty play in advancing student success at LSU.
Eligibility
- Nominees must be current LSU faculty members with teaching responsibilities.
- Faculty of any rank or appointment type, including instructors, are eligible.
- Nominations may be submitted by LSU faculty, staff, or students.
- Self-nominations are welcome.
- Nominees should demonstrate a meaningful commitment to student success through their teaching and related student-support activities.
Nomination Criteria
- Commitment to Student Success: Demonstrates a sustained commitment to helping students overcome academic challenges, make meaningful progress, and achieve their educational goals.
- Student-Centered Teaching Practices: Uses effective, engaging, and responsive teaching strategies that support student learning and create an environment where students can succeed.
- Proactive Student Support: Recognizes when students may be struggling and takes meaningful action through outreach, feedback, mentorship, referrals, or other interventions.
- Demonstrated Impact: Provides specific examples or evidence of positive outcomes for students, such as improved learning, engagement, course completion, persistence, or academic confidence.
- Collaboration and Connection to Resources: Connects students with appropriate academic and campus resources and collaborates with colleagues or support units to strengthen student success.
Student Success Impact
The Student Success Impact Award recognizes an individual who has made a significant and meaningful contribution to student success at LSU through their work, leadership, service, or commitment to students.
This award celebrates individuals whose efforts have strengthened the student experience, removed barriers to success, expanded access to support, or positively influenced students' academic progress, persistence, or overall well-being.
Eligibility
- Open to current LSU faculty and staff.
- Nominees may serve in academic, administrative, student support, or other university roles.
- Contributions may occur through direct student interaction, program development, leadership, or behind-the-scenes efforts.
- Self-nominations and nominations by colleagues are welcome.
Nomination Criteria
- Demonstrated Impact on Student Success: Evidence that the nominee's efforts have meaningfully improved student experiences, access to resources, academic progress, persistence, or other student-success outcomes.
- Commitment to Students: A demonstrated dedication to understanding student needs, removing barriers, and creating opportunities for students to succeed.
- Collaboration and Leadership: Efforts to collaborate across departments, influence positive change, or strengthen a culture of student success at LSU.
- Sustained Contribution: Consistency, dedication, and meaningful contributions to student success over time.
Student Success Innovation
The Student Success Innovation Award recognizes an individual, team, program, or initiative that has introduced an innovative approach to improving student success at LSU.
This award celebrates creative solutions that address student needs, remove barriers, improve processes, expand access to resources, or enhance the student experience.
Innovation may include a new initiative, a significant redesign of an existing practice, or the creative adaptation of a proven approach to meet the needs of LSU students.
Eligibility
- Open to current LSU faculty, staff, teams, programs, and initiatives.
- Nominated innovations must have been implemented or substantially redesigned within the past three academic years.
- The innovation must have been implemented at LSU, with at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness or promising results.
- Innovations do not need to be entirely original or involve new technology.
- Initiatives in pilot phases are eligible if they have been implemented and have preliminary results.
- Self-nominations and nominations by colleagues are welcome.
Nomination Criteria
- Creativity and Innovation: The extent to which the initiative introduces a new approach, significantly improves an existing practice, or creatively addresses a student-success challenge.
- Impact or Demonstrated Promise: Evidence that the innovation has improved student experiences, processes, access to support, engagement, or student-success outcomes, or shows meaningful promise of doing so.
- Responsiveness to Student Needs: How effectively the innovation addresses an identified challenge, barrier, or opportunity related to student success.
- Sustainability and Potential for Broader Application: The feasibility of continuing, expanding, or adapting the innovation to benefit additional students, departments, or programs.