The Mental Health Champion award is designed to cultivate an environment that values and recognizes mental health and the importance it holds in the well-being of each of our lives and for assisting the University of Iowa in meeting its strategic goal of being a health-promoting campus.

The University of Iowa Strategic Plan includes, as a goal, “Holistic Well Being and Success” which includes embedding mental health into all aspects of a campus culture that supports students, faculty, employees, and staff.

Preference will be given to those whose primary job is not in mental health, but who through their efforts, assist the university in accomplishing this strategic goal.

Mental Health Champions:
1. Make significant and sustainable contributions to campus mental health
2. Attend to their own mental health
3. Cultivate spaces where belonging, compassion—for oneself and others—and accessibility are central to every contribution
4. Improve access to and awareness of mental health resources on campus.

All University of Iowa -affiliated faculty, employees, merit staff, P&S staff, post-docs, and undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.

Annually, there are up to two awards given to students and up to two awards given to staff/faculty/employees/post-docs.

Awards can be given to an individual or to a group.  Nominators can self-nominate or can nominate an individual or group.

Awards include a plaque and a monetary award of $250.00. Awardees attend an award ceremony to be recognized and will also be featured on the College of Education’s digital channels.

Nominations open on Monday, January 12, and are due Friday, February 13.

Nominations are reviewed by the Awards Committee. The process is conducted in a transparent manner, allowing for any campus individual or group to be nominated. Nominations can be submitted by others or can be self-nominated. We encourage nominators to notify nominees in the spirit of transparency.

Nominators and nominees will be notified by March 9th.

The awards will be presented at the Institution Awards Ceremony on May 5, 2026, from 4:00-6:30 p.m. at Hancher Auditorium.

Representatives from: College of Education.

Current Representatives/Co-Sponsors: College of Education.

1. Statement of how the individual or group meets the spirit of the award.
2. Data and examples that corroborates the nominee’s impact in sustainably embedding mental health into campus culture.
3. At least one, and no more than three, letters of recommendation must accompany the nomination to support the information and impact described in the nomination statement. Whether you are self-nominating or nominating someone else, at least one letter of recommendation must be provided by someone other than the nominator. **Files must be submitted in Word (.docx) format only; PDF files will not be accepted. If possible, combine all supporting artifacts/documentation into a single file
4. Complete the nomination form by Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.

Funding Sources & Considerations

'Awards are funded by one or more sources managed by the College of Education.

Individual faculty/staff/postdoc monetary awards:  Cash awards to employees constitute gross wages and are subject to payroll tax withholding. This payment will be processed as a special compensation payment.  The award will include required taxes so that the recipient is in full receipt of the actual posted amount of the award.

Individual student monetary awards: Cash awards to students must be processed through MAUI Scholarship Workflow. These payments may lower the total need-based financial aid previously awarded to student.  The Office of Student Financial Aid will review each payment to determine if a student’s financial aid will be affected and will notify the student about any adjustments.  The award will include required taxes so that the recipient is in full receipt of the actual posted amount of the award.

Group awards: Awards given to a group may be used for group recognition activities (such as those aligned with staff appreciation policies), or for materials/supplies to further their campus mental health work. Award funding for groups will be managed by submitting expenditures to Scanlan Center for School Mental Health for payment or reimbursement.

Evaluation

To best evaluate this program the College of Education will track demographically where individuals are receiving these nominations in order to ensure we are appropriately marketing the award to all campus communities.