At Cal Poly Pomona, the spirit of collaboration is in the initiatives created to support student success. It's in the programs designed to bolster academic achievement and the courses taught to ensure a successful transition from classroom to career.

That spirit was celebrated in 2021 when Project CAMINOS (Cultivating Access and Mentoring through Institutional Networks and Opportunities for Success), a program on campus that helps students transition from high school to college and provides ongoing support for them once they are enrolled, received the inaugural One Team Award.

Recognition of cross-departmental and cross-divisional teams - large and small -­ will return this year, with the nomination period for the second annual One Team Award kicking off on Monday, May 2 and running through Monday, June 6. University President Soraya M. Coley will announce the winner at Fall Convocation on Monday, Aug. 22.

"The One Team Award is a direct result of President Coley's vision of making Cal Poly Pomona a best place to work and as such, recognizing the critical importance of collaboration to not only accelerate our achievement, but also to create an environment where people are ever more fulfilled in their careers," said Jesús F. Ávalos, chair of the One Team Award Committee and the learning and development consultant with Employee and Organizational Development and Advancement.

"We know that people's experience at work is based on large part on their interactions with their teams, including cross-departmental teams working on special projects. There are so many people on campus doing such important work to better serve our students and our community and it's a privilege to be able to recognize our faculty and staff who come together for a common cause, helping each other grow and positively impact the campus."

Nominations will be evaluated on their impact on the campus community and how closely their projects and initiatives align with one or more of the university's core values of academic excellence, experiential learning, inclusivity, student learning and success, community engagement and social and environmental responsibility. Teams must represent at least two departments and have a minimum of three members. To be eligible, entire projects or a defined major milestone of a project must have been completed in the past year.

One Team Award winners cannot be nominated again for the same project for consecutive years. Presidential or Provost-appointed teams with multiple leadership members do not qualify. However, subsequent teams that develop out of those Presidential or Provost-driven initiatives are eligible to apply.

More information about the nomination and selection process, as well as application materials, are available on the One Team website.