Awards and Recognition

Celebrating STEP’s Impact 

Over the years, STEP has been honored for its innovation in contributing to students’ personal and professional development, increasing retention and graduation rates of participants and for designing collaborative approaches to student success. We invite you to learn about some of the awards and recognition the program has received. 

OCPA Innovative Program Award, 2021 

This award, granted by the Ohio College Personnel Association (OCPA), goes to those who have initiated “a new program or unique approach to a college policy, program or problem.” Key criteria for this honor are innovative and effective approaches directed towards meeting the changing needs of students on the campus and the applicability of these approaches to other campuses.    

ACPA Collaborative Excellence Award, 2017 

This award, granted by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA), “recognizes achievements that support and foster college student learning through the generation and dissemination of knowledge.” During the selection process, STEP was recognized for the program’s impact on students, cross departmental partnerships, and assessment results. 

NASPA Excellence Award Silver Certificate, 2017 

This award, granted by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), “seeks to highlight innovative initiatives that relate to the programs, policies, procedures, best practices, or services that represent efforts to improve student learning, student persistence, or institutional success in select ways”. STEP was honored in the “Enrollment Management, Financial Aid, Orientation, Parents, Persistence, First-year, Other-year and Related” category.