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C3 Annual Awards

2025 C3 Awards Nominations are now open until April 28, 2025 @ 8am. Award details are below. Click here to submit a nomination

 

Impact & Innovation Award-New for 2025:
This award recognizes a career professional who is a member of the C3 community who has consistently made an impact in the career space at UNC Chapel Hill through an innovative approach to their practice. Award nominees should demonstrate impact through their program or students/staff outcomes and innovation through a description of how they are forward thinking in their practice in career services.

Rising Star Award:
This award is to a career services professional who is a member of the C3 community early in their career who demonstrates strong leadership potential and innovative contributions to the career services profession and UNC-CH. Award nominees have less than 5 years of work experience in the career services profession. The nominee years of experience can be within UNC or combined with experience prior to their time at UNC.

Outstanding Career Professional of the Year Award:
This award recognizes a UNC-CH career development professional who is a member of the C3 community for outstanding performance in day-to-day service to students, campus/employer partners and the university. The awardee demonstrates adherence to the university’s mission while also embracing an unwavering commitment to excellence in serving students and professional in the career development space. Award nominees must have 6 or more years of experience in the career services profession. The nominee years of experience can be within UNC or combined with experience prior to their time at UNC. Nominees for this award must have a least a year space if they have previously received the Rising Star Award.

Carolina Career Collaborator Award (aka: “The C3 Award”)-New for 2025:
This award goes to a cross-campus career team of 2 or more individuals within the C3 community who embodies C3 by working on a collaborative project with at least one other career unit across campus. Cross-campus career team can be defined as 2 or more professional in different career spaces across campus. Award nominees should define collaboration through metrics of program or detailing benefits of collaboration to students and staff.

 

 

Past Award Recipients 

2024:

  • Outstanding Career Practitioner of the Year: Allison Binkley- Director of Career, Alumni and Employer Engagement, MPA Program, School of Government
  • Rising Star Award: Steph Olson- Career Services Coordinator, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
  • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Award: Noemi Morillo-Vasquez, Director of Employer Engagement & Recruiting, MBA Programs at Kenan-Flagler Business School
  • Best Practices/Innovation Aware: Patrick Brandt- Director of Career Development and Training; Director of Science Outreach, Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program

2023:

  • Outstanding Career Practitioner of the Year: Tamara Taylor- Interim Associate Director for Career Education/Senior Assistant Director for Career Coaching & Student Belonging, University Career Services
  • Rising Star Award: Kelsey Williams- Assistant Director of Internships & Experiential Learning, University Career Services
  • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Award: Catherine Okafor- Assistant Director, Career Development & Employer Relations, Kenan-Flagler Business School
  • Best Practices / Innovation Award: Joe Hayes- Assistant Director, Career Development & Employer Relations, Undergraduate Business, Kenan-Flagler Business School

2022:

  • Outstanding Career Practitioner of the Year: Steve Hicks, Associate Director, Undergraduate Business Career Services, Kenan-Flagler Business School
  • Best Practices Award / Innovation Award: Lori Haight, Director of Career Services, School of Information & Library Science

2020 (not offered in 2021 due to COVID):

  • Outstanding Career Practitioner of the Year: Sandra Chandler
  • Best Practices Award / Innovation Award: Amy Blackburn
  • Distinguished Diversity Initiative: Brandy Arellano

2019:

  • Outstanding Career Practitioner of the Year: Sarah Crockett
  • Best Practices Award / Innovation Award: Sheena Jacobs
  • Distinguished Diversity Initiative: Tamara Taylor & Jayne Davis

 

Past Award Recipients’ Testimonials

“The C3 award recognized a pivotal partnership between Carolina Covenant Scholars Program and University Career Services to align college majors with career aspirations for the University’s lowest income students.  Since this award, our partnership has grown. Together, our offices obtained grant funding to provide Covenant Scholars with high impact professional development over the summer months, helping them advance their professional goals and lowering financial barriers to opportunity.” Jayne Davis

“As the 2020 recipient of the Outstanding Career Practitioner of The Year Award, I strongly encourage members of the career services community to consider nominating their peers for one of the C3 awards.  This opportunity to nominate your peers provides a way for those around you who work tirelessly every day in support of our students all year long to be recognized for the great work they do that may not be seen by others around campus.  There are three (3) categories you can select from: Outstanding Career Practitioner of The Year; Best Practices Award / Innovation Award; Distinguished Diversity Initiative.  Surely there is someone within your team who is deserving of recognition!” Sandra Chandler