Empower Alaska Incentive Plan

Here’s what you need to know:

• Who can be nominated: Regular, benefit-eligible employees in good standing with at least 6 months of service.
• Who can nominate: Any UA employee (including self-nominations).
• Award amounts: $100–$1,000 per award; four $5,000 Grand Prizes available.
• Categories include:
• Scalable Innovation - Innovation that improves operations
• Exceptional Student Service - Exceptional student service
• Empowering Alaska - Outstanding contributions and performance aligned with Empower Alaska values
• How to nominate: 
• Submit a brief description of the employee’s contributions and outcomes to their supervisor or Human Resources Coordinator (HRC).
• Supervisors and/or HRCs complete the Nomination Form  for review, approval, and awarding.
• Deadline for Grand Prize consideration: May 15, 2025.

Nominations are reviewed and approved by supervisors and university leadership, with award funds allocated across each MAU.

Note: All submissions are subject to review and approval, and not all submissions may be deemed eligible for this program. Eligibility and final award determinations are made at the discretion of the nominee’s supervisor in accordance with university policies and procedures. Individual Universities may provide additional guidance on the award review process.

• All regular, benefit-eligible employees are eligible.
• Nominees must be active employees in good standing with at least six months of service and no corrective action during that period.
• Supervisors verify eligibility before approving award submissions.

Awards can cover ideas that were developed, created, or had an impact in FY25, and awards will be provided until the pilot program closes on June 30, 2025, or when funding is exhausted.

Work to implement the improvements can have occurred as far back as FY23, but must have an impact on the current fiscal year. 

1. Scalable Innovation - Recognizes ideas or actions that improve operational efficiency, introduce new or improved processes, or enhance customer service—well beyond regular job duties.
2. Exceptional Student Service - Recognizes efforts that significantly improve student recruitment, retention, or graduation outcomes, or that enhance the student experience.
3. Empowering Alaska - Recognizes outstanding contributions during critical times or exemplary performance that far exceeds expectations, demonstrating the values of the Regents’ Roadmap to Empower Alaska initiative.

The Regents allocated up to $500,000 for this program, which has been distributed to the Universities and System office based on employee headcount on Sept. 20, 2024:

At UAS, funds will be held centrally. The Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet will ensure distribution across campuses, divisions, and departments when approving awards.

At UAF, UAA, and System Office, the funds have been proportionally distributed at the Vice Chancellor or Vice President/Chief Officer level. Management reserves the right to make further distribution adjustments to fully spend the funds, if necessary. 

In addition to the team and individual awards, there are four (4) Grand Prizes of $5,000 available. 

• By May 15, 2025, each MAU (System Office and the Foundation, plus the three Universities) will select its top 3 awardees and submit them to the President’s Office.
• A systemwide committee will select from those twelve, four $5,000 grand prize winners (split among group recipients if applicable). 
• Winners will be announced by June 30, 2025, and recognized at a BOR meeting.

Award recipients may be asked to provide additional information to support a one-page informational slide submission. Submissions received by May 15 will be considered for the Grand Prizes. However, if an MAU still has incentive funds available to award, submissions will continue to be reviewed until the funds are exhausted or the fiscal year ends.

Employees may be nominated for awards by their colleagues or supervisors.

To nominate a colleague, notify that colleague’s supervisor or department HRC that you would like to recognize them. You’ll want to include the following information in your message:

1. Your colleague’s name and default UA email address.
   1. The nomination/submission form requires default UA email addresses rather than aliases. 
2. The award category in which your colleague should be recognized 
3. 3-5 sentences explaining what your colleague did that deserves to be recognized
4. 2-3 sentences explaining the outcome of your colleague’s actions.

Nominate one of your employees or teams directly or based on the recommendation of their colleagues by completing this NextGen form . Your HRC may also start the form and route it to you for review and approval. You’ll need:

1. Your employee(s) name and default UA email address(es).
2. Teams or groups of employees require 1 form per employee to be recognized.
1. The nomination/submission form requires default UA email addresses rather than aliases. 
3. The award category in which the employee(s) should be recognized.
4. 3-5 sentences explaining what your employee(s)’ did that deserves to be recognized.
5. 2-3 sentences explaining the outcome of your employee(s)’ actions.

All nominations require supervisor approval. Supervisors will:

1. Confirm the eligibility of their employee(s).
2. Determine the monetary amount of the award, ranging from $100 to $1000
• VCAS (UAA & UAF) or CHRO (System Office) approval is required for awards over $700.
3. Provide a brief justification of the award amount.

Nominations will be reviewed centrally by the Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet. The Cabinet will award up to 40 $1,000 awards across all three UAS campuses. Nominations should include:

• Nominations can be made by any UAS employee and should be submitted via Google Form.
• The Executive Cabinet will award up to 40 $1,000 awards across all three UAS campuses. 
• The Executive Cabinet will centrally review, approve nominations, and make awards.
• UAS will be following a different submission and award process from some of the other MAUs. Exact details can be found on the UAS Employee Hub.

Detailed instructions on how to submit the nominating form are available here:

Empower Alaska Incentive Plan - Form Completion

Please note that the NextGen form requires the use of the default UA email addresses rather than an alias email.

Supervisors and HRCs must have the following information to complete the form. You may need to ask the individual for some of these details:

• UA ID of person being nominated as well as their supervisor’s name and email address

Recipient’s Adjusted Service Date (PEAEMPL) can be located within Banner.