Sponsored by the Office of Sustainability, and in support of UC’s strategic direction, Next Lives Here, the Sustainability Award Program serves as a celebratory and competitive framework for recognizing UC students, staff, and faculty who are doing exemplary work in sustainability. Any member of the UC community is welcome to submit a project that they feel meets the criteria outlined in either the Sustainability Student Award, Sustainability Teaching/Service (Faculty) Award, Sustainability Staff Award, or Sustainability Research Award category.
The intention of the Sustainability Awards is to encourage and incentivize the UC community to build and enhance our culture of sustainability while also supporting academic excellence, urban impact, and innovation. The Sustainability Awards will be held during Sustainability@UC Week (January 26-30, 2026). Winners of each category will be honored at the ceremony and receive $250!
Categories & criteria:
Student Award
This award recognizes a student, group of students, or student organization’s outstanding initiative and leadership related to sustainability. Awardees are innovative in their ways of solving problems to enhance UC’s culture of sustainability.
Qualifications: Must be a UC student, group of students, or student organization during at least one semester of the current academic year.
Teaching/Service (Faculty) Award
This award recognizes an outstanding faculty member who is dedicated to cultivating a culture of sustainability at UC. Awardees exemplify a strong commitment to sustainability through teaching and/or service.
Qualifications: Must be a current UC faculty member.
Staff Award
This award recognizes a staff member, office, or department’s outstanding initiative and leadership in their office and/or work. Awardees are dedicated to the enhancement of UC as a living laboratory and to integrating sustainability into UC operations.
Qualifications: Must be a current staff member, office, or department at the University of Cincinnati.
Research Award
This award recognizes an individual’s or team’s outstanding initiative(s) or leadership in research related to sustainability. Awardees are innovative in their ways of solving problems to enhance the culture of sustainability at UC and beyond.
Qualifications: The corresponding Principal Investigator must be a current UC faculty member and/or team. The research must have taken place during the current academic year.
Nominations for each category will be evaluated using the following criteria: Innovation, Impact, Practicality, Inclusion, and Builds a Culture of Sustainability.
The awards ceremony will be part of Sustainability@UC Week 2026 (January 26-30, 2026), a week full of sustainability-related events and activities for students, researchers, educators, staff, and the public! This week is organized by the UC Office of Sustainability, the School of Environment and Sustainability (SEaS), Student Government, and the Center for Public Engagement with Science (PEWS). Stay tuned for the full schedule!
