VC's Award for Service Excellence

Vice Chancellor's Award for Service Excellence

Vice Chancellors Award

The Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Service Excellence demonstrates the value that professional staff bring to the LUMS community. Each award recognizes the outstanding contributions of individual staff members beyond that normally expected for their position.

The Award is co-sponsored by the VC Office and the Human Resources Department. Up to 6 awards may be given each academic year to nominees who have demonstrated sustained, exceptional service that has impacted the LUMS community.

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Eligibility

Full-time or part-time professional employees who have served a minimum duration of one year in their current position. These include administrative functions and staff roles supporting academic functions.
Anyone can make a nomination, providing that they fulfill the required criteria. Self-nominations will not be considered.
The individual should not have any record of disciplinary, performance or behavior issues during the period under review.
Senior leadership are not eligible (Directors, Registrar, etc.)

Recipients of the Award

Presented a citation of excellence and memento at a ceremony
Receive PKR 100,000 cash award
Receive an invitation to a group lunch with the VC and their nominators

Nomination Criteria

Recognize those staff employees who have rendered excellent service to LUMS during the year under review, who strive to go above and beyond the call of duty in a special situation, and/or have contributed in a significant way to the success of the university or demonstrate values and behaviors that are important to the University.

An innovation or improvement in a process, practice, infrastructure, service, product, information management etc. with a significant impact for the University
Exceptional service to internal or external stakeholders through individual efforts or initiatives taken to improve service delivery for an entire team/function
Exceptional ethics or behaviors important to the University such as going above and beyond to demonstrate integrity, honesty, kindness, empathy, of inclusion or volunteer work
Exemplary leadership by successfully leading a team or multiple teams through an extraordinary time or significantly improving a team or multiple’s team performance through exceptional people management skills
A direct or indirect contribution to the community or the University which impacts the reputation of LUMS
Substantial financial impact made through measurable efforts such as effective planning or process efficiency

Nomination Process

Step 1 Online form submitted to HR

i. Name of nominator (automatically picked up by form)

ii. Name of nominee (searchable on LUMS phone list)

iii. Why should your nominee receive the award? (text box) – up to a max 3 pages

- Indicator and examples of criteria (see page X) that constitute evidence

Step 2 HR to review them to ensure all information is complete and to verify that a nominee is not involved in any disciplinary cases.

Step 3 Compiled nominations will be submitted to the committee members at least two days ahead of the Review Committee Meeting.

Step 4 Arrangements for scheduling and note-taking of the final Committee Review meeting will be made by HR in liaison with the VC Office.

Step 5 Committee members will be individually responsible for reviewing all nominations before the Selection Committee meeting. Each nominee should be ranked according to the Award criteria (indicate where it will be provided…) and using the following scale: following scale:

a. 5 = Outstanding

b. 4 = Very Good

c. 3 = Good

d. 2 = Fair

e. 1 = Average

Step 6 The Committee will meet to select up to five employees for the Excellence Award. The approximate duration of the Review meeting will be 2-3 hours long; however, whether the whole time will be needed will depend on the number and quality of submissions and how quickly the committee comes to consensus

Step 7 The Committee will also discuss the process for announcing the winners (including notifying winners, selecting reward, posting on websites etc.) and any changes to the Award nomination and selection processes for the next year.

Step 8 The Committee will provide feedback for future nomination and evaluation processes for the Award which could include reviewing award criteria, submission formats and evaluation tools.

To submit your nomination, click here.

Winners

Hafiz Muhammad Rizwan

Hafiz Muhammad Rizwan

Mr. Rizwan is an instrument maker and works as a Principal Technician at the Physics Department. Honing rare skills in building sophisticated scientific instruments and mastering techniques in design, machining, vacuum, hydraulics and instrumentation, Mr. Rizwan has prepared copious documentation to enhance faculty's experimental work. His instruments adorn the Physics laboratories and have been used by thousands of SBASSE students in their practical Physics courses. Hafiz saves LUMS millions of rupees every year by replacing expensive imports with indigenous products sometimes resuscitating worn-out equipment. His articles and documents can also be found in other universities across Pakistan. He has created a self-sufficient ecosystem inside the Physics Department.. His contributions also motivated the formation of the Instrument Cell, which aims at the repair and diagnostics of scientific equipment. The Cell also generates revenue and helps numerous industries and universities in the country.

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Muhammad Faisal Haroon

Muhammad Faisal Haroon

Mr. Haroon has worked at LUMS for over nine years, providing exceptional service to the Office and the community. Last year, he played an instrumental role to enhance procurement services throughout the lockdown, given acute resource shortages. He volunteered to take on additional roles, including supervision of the team including the operations of the new LUMS Store. Mr. Haroon organises large-scale events for a range of internal stakeholders on a regular basis. Faisal’s efforts at the convocation are also exemplary year after year. He has a history of managing a high volume of work without compromising the quality of service.

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Muhammad Umar Brar

Muhammad Umar Brar

Mr. Brar has worked at LUMS for 14 years, delivering a stellar performance in his primary role at the Associate Dean's Office, where he is responsible for planning workload and optimisation of the Undergraduate programme where he has demonstrated exemplary leadership. He has stepped up to assist with all the work related to the launch of the six MS programmes at the School. He has also mentored and trained the Programme Coordination Office staff over the years, strengthening the legacy of SDSB academics. In addition, Umar is a keen volunteer for the wider university service, an example of which is the recent Convocation ceremonies led by OSA. Currently, he is also the coordinator of the twinning program with the University of Baltistan in Skardu.

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Natasha Sohail Barlas

Natasha Sohail Barlas

Ms. Barlas has been the lead for Student Success at the Office of Academic Advising for the past two years. During this challenging time, she has infused productivity and an exceptional work ethic amongst team members, and created a joint partnership with the NOP Centre to design and launch over a dozen different programmes. This includes inter-unit collaborations and working with students as partners. She has also initiated programmes for the entire campus such as SDSB’s Communication and The Presentation Peer Tutoring Centre. Ms Natasha is also scaling other campus-wide programs including alumni mentoring and career peer tutoring. She has also made her unit’s research and programme manuals publicly available for other universities in Pakistan.

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Shandana Mehdi

Shandana Mehdi

Ms. Mehdi has been at LUMS for over 15 years and has been instrumental in the development and implementation of key projects For example, she generated marketing collateral in national and regional languages to reach a larger dynamic audience and established new contacts in the minority group-centric areas for outreach. The result is an increase in applications from 2,600 to over 10,000 for the Summer Coaching Sessions (SCS). Shandana has enhanced the curriculum of the SCS, and took on the Empowerment through Education initiative under DFID, to meet donor expectations. She also works on the Learning and Mentoring programmes in collaboration with the Gurmani School to improve the spoken and written English, for freshly enrolled NOP scholars as well as many other student success Initiatives with the Office of Academic Advising.

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Tariq Sheikh

Tariq Sheikh

Mr. Sheikh has served LUMS for more than 32 years, playing a key role in transforming the University from a stand-alone computational infrastructure to a distributed/networked computing service. Major computing infrastructure projects were designed and executed by him, including the fiber optic backbone, hostel network, the first active directory service, secure wireless connectivity, and Zambeel. Despite meager resources available at the time, many extremely high-risk external projects were also successfully delivered by him, including campus-wide smart card access control, a surveillance system, conversion of the LUMS website to a standard Drupal framework, and deployment of new SAP core financial systems along with the consequent data mapping and migration from previous procurement systems. He also stepped up to lead COVID-19 operations during the pandemic, ensuring campus safety and completing vaccinations during virus outbreaks, guiding colleagues round the clock, and keeping the campus operational and safe.

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Office of the Vice Chancellor