Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI)

The 2012 nomination period is now closed. For questions, please contact Yvonne Rannels.

Award Categories

• Nonsupervisory
• Employee Manager/Supervisor
• Team

Eligibility

1. Any U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs nonsupervisory employee, manager/supervisor, or team that meets the criteria below may be nominated. Please note that individuals and teams may include equal employment opportunity (EEO) program practitioners (for example, EEO program managers, counselors, investigators, and special emphasis program managers).
2. The nominee (or, in the case of a Team category nomination, ALL members of the Team) must pass a security check. Nominees who do not pass this security check by close of business Friday, June 1, 2012, will not be considered. Nominees who have had prior findings of discrimination will not be considered. Nominees who are under investigation will be considered as long as no findings of discrimination are made as of the date of the awards ceremony. In the event that one team member does not pass through the security clearance process, the team, the team lead, and/or the nominator must decide whether to proceed with the nomination without the team member or whether to retract the nomination. That determination must be made by close of business Friday, June 1, 2012.
3. Prior recipients of the Secretary’s Diversity and Inclusion Excellence Awards must wait until one complete awards program cycle has concluded before they are eligible for nomination in ANY category.
4. For a nominee to be eligible, the deadlines outlined under section IV must be met.

Criteria

Nominations must include narratives that address one or more of the three following criteria:

1. Build a diverse, high-performing workforce that reflects all segments of society.
2. Cultivate a flexible, collaborative, and inclusive work environment that leverages diversity and empowers all contributors.
3. Facilitate outstanding, culturally competent public service and stakeholder relations through effective leadership and accountability.

Please note that VA’s revised “Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan for FY 2012-2016” (which will be made available at http://www.diversity.va.gov) and the Government-Wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan may be used as additional resources.

Success in the areas of diversity and inclusion can involve endeavors that span over years. Though ground work for some activities may have begun in years prior, narratives should clearly and concisely describe the nominee’s 2011 accomplishments. Only those individuals/teams who have achieved outstanding results through unusually effective leadership, skill, innovation, and perseverance in the areas of diversity and inclusion should be nominated. While special acts or other one-time achievements will be considered, these awards will place special emphasis on effective and sustained efforts worthy of recognition. This justification will serve as the principal basis for selection of the award recipients.

Document and Processing

How to Apply

1. The nominator must complete the nomination template and gather any supporting documentation (for example, workforce statistics/graphs, presentations, or photographs) which serves as direct evidence to support the nomination.
2. The nominee must complete the following two forms (in the case of a Team nomination, all Team members must complete both forms) and return them to the nominator for submission:

• a. VA Form 0235 (Security Check for Candidate Requiring Approval of the Secretary)
• b. Authorization to Release Information

3. Nominations must be processed through the appropriate procedures established within each organizational component (NOTE: Because VA Form 0235 contains sensitive information, it must be submitted via encrypted email. If you do not have encryption capability and will need to fax this form using the Facsimile Transmittal Sheet, email your Administration/Staff Office coordinator who will instruct you as to how to proceed):

• Veterans Health Administration (VHA): For employees located in VHA field facilities, nominations must first be endorsed by the Medical Center Director and then submitted to the VISN Director for approval. For VHA employees located in Central Office, nominations must be endorsed by the Chief Officer. Upon receiving these endorsements, forward completed nomination packages (including a completed nomination template, supporting documentation, VA Form 0235, Authorization to Release Information, and endorsement letters from both the Facility Director and the VISN Director) by close of business Friday, May 11, 2012, to Michael Youngblood, Workforce Management Consulting/Diversity & Inclusion Office (10A2G), at Michael.Youngblood@va.gov for coordination and submission through the Under Secretary for Health.
• Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA): For employees located in VBA regional offices and in Central Office, nominations must be endorsed by the Facility Director. Upon receiving this endorsement, forward completed nomination packages (including a completed nomination template, supporting documentation, VA Form 0235, Authorization to Release Information, and endorsement letter from the Facility Director) by close of business Friday, May 11, 2012, to Lois Scoon, VBA Office of Diversity Management and EEO (20M2), at Lois.Scoon@va.gov for coordination and submission through the Under Secretary for Benefits.
• National Cemetery Administration (NCA): For employees located in NCA field sites, nominations must be endorsed by the MSN Director. For NCA employees located in Central Office, nominations must be endorsed by the Service Director. Upon receiving this endorsement, forward completed nomination packages (including a completed nomination template, supporting documentation, VA Form 0235, Authorization to Release Information, and endorsement letter from the MSN or Service Director) by close of business Friday, May 11, 2012, to Perdita Johnson-Abercrombie, NCA Office of Diversity Management and EEO (41), at Perdita.Johnson-Abercrombie@va.gov for coordination and submission through the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs.
• All other employees should submit nominations through the appropriate organizational heads by close of business Friday, May 11, 2012.

4. The Administration/Staff Office coordinator must electronically submit all completed nomination packages (which will also include an endorsement by the appropriate Under Secretary, Assistant Secretary, or Key Official) to Yvonne Rannels by close of business Friday, June 15, 2012.

Reminder

Nominations are NOT COMPLETE and WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED until the following has occurred AND the deadlines are met:

1. Completed nomination packages (including a completed nomination template, supporting documentation, VA Form 0235 [for ALL members of a Team nomination], Authorization to Release Information [for ALL members of a Team nomination], and endorsement letters) forwarded to the appropriate Administration/Staff Office coordinator by close of business Friday, May 11, 2012.
2. The nominee (or, in the case of a Team category nomination, ALL members of the Team) pass the security check by Friday, June 1, 2012.
3. The Administration/Staff Office coordinator must electronically submit all completed nomination packages (which will also include an endorsement by the appropriate Under Secretary, Assistant Secretary, or Key Official) to Yvonne Rannels, ODI, at Yvonne.Rannels@va.gov by close of business Friday, June 15, 2012.

• Terry Gerigk Wolf (Manager/Supervisor): Mrs. Wolf is being recognized for her outstanding leadership and commitment to fostering a diverse workforce and an inclusive work environment at VAPHS. Under Mrs. Wolf’s leadership, VAPHS is active in succession planning and has enacted numerous programs to ensure that employees can bolster their professional skills. Mrs. Wolf also supports flexible scheduling to help employees enhance productivity while accommodating their educational and personal goals. In addition to being a tireless advocate for educating employees, Mrs. Wolf is also greatly concerned with communicating with all VAPHS stakeholders. Her management style champions communication, which she sees as vital to ensuring that all employees feel included and engaged in the conversations at VA Pittsburgh. She uses a number of innovative communication methods to promote a culture of open communication and inclusion among her 3,704 employees. These include a “Director’s Page” on VA Pittsburgh’s Intranet site—which includes a compliments page, blog, message board, and an archive of every all-employee email message sent from the Director’s signature. Mrs. Wolf is a VA leader whose actions serve as a model for diversity and inclusion excellence as she continues to make invaluable contributions to furthering the Department’s goals in these areas and to ensuring equal opportunity.
• Novella Brown Scott (Nonsupervisory Employee): When it comes to the diversity and inclusion arena, Ms. Scott has embraced the concept of shared leadership in her role as a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist within the CAVHCS, Mental Health-Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (MH-RRTP). She shines as a beacon of hope to encourage Disabled Veterans that they can be positive contributors in the workplace and has dedicated herself to conveying this message to them as well as to CAVHCS staff, stakeholders, communities, and even potential employers. Ms. Scott was instrumental in the development of various programs and initiatives to aid homeless and unemployed Veterans and Disabled Veterans, such as a “Ready to Work” training and skills program for unemployed Disabled Veterans. She also helped to develop the first MH-RRTP Women’s Focus Group and the first MH-RRTP Annual Prom in an effort to recognize the service of women Veterans and promote positive awareness of homeless Veterans seeking employment by ensuring participation of positive community leaders. Ms. Scott worked to remove the stigma and barriers associated with the equal opportunity employment of homeless Veterans and coordinated various trainings to understand disabilities, decrease stigma, and emphasize the desire for community employment by people with disabilities. Ms. Scott is a hidden treasure within the walls of CAVHCS and is the manifestation of the organization’s leadership drive to meet the vision of the Department of Veterans Affairs to create and sustain a high-performing workforce by leveraging diversity and empowering employees to achieve superior results in service to our Nation’s Veterans.
• VISN 16 Diversity Advisory Committee, South Central VA Health Care Network, Ridgeland, MS (Team): The VISN 16 Diversity Advisory Committee is being recognized for their outstanding efforts to promote diversity and inclusion throughout the entire South Central VA Health Care Network. The Committee took creative action knowing that a diverse workforce and an inclusive work environment are essential to a high-performing organization. They developed, signed, and executed a Diversity Contract aimed at creating and sustaining a high-performing workforce by leveraging diversity and empowering all employees to achieve superior results in service to our Nation’s Veterans and leadership accountability in these areas. The Committee also created a Diversity Web page to facilitate communication: the VISN Director can post monthly messages and all employees can submit ideas for improvements and share thoughts about how to create the best workplace cultures. Their proactive commitment also led them to establish the goal of critically evaluating their VISN data and to identify opportunities for continuous improvement in the areas of representation, recruitment, and retention. The VISN 16 Diversity Advisory Committee serves as a model of excellence for their creative and innovative approaches to VA’s diversity and inclusion goals.

Caption: Georgia Coffey (far left) and Ralph Torres (far right) with the 2010 Diversity and Inclusion and Alternative Dispute Resolution Excellence Award recipients.

• Adam Walmus (Manage/Supervisor): Mr. Walmus is currently the new director of the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas. He was recognized as the former director of the VA Medical Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma, for his focus on cultural diversity awareness that helped to ensure that a wide-range of perspectives was incorporated when addressing issues and concerns related to the delivery of high-quality care to America’s Veterans. In addition, Mr. Walmus made participation in the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) a high priority, increasing the number of students involved in the facility’s program from just five in fiscal year (FY) 2006 to 25 in FY 2009, the highest number of SCEP interns among all VA medical centers!
• Jeanette Goff (Nonsupervisory Employee): Ms. Goff, Medical Support Assistant at the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System in Reno, Nevada, was recognized for her creative ideas on educating and training an employee with visual impairment to perform the work of a medical support assistant. In addition to working directly with the low-vision employee, Ms. Goff worked with call center team members to identify unspoken assumptions, differing values, and initial resistance related to working with persons with a visual disability. As a direct result of her efforts, the low-vision employee can now perform competently and professionally the functions of this job, and the call center team members know what people can do is much more important than what they can’t do.
• Office of Health Information Management, Medical Record Technicians unit at the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, North Carolina (Ryl Giacchetta accepted on behalf of the Team): Ms. Giacchetta accepted the team award on behalf of the Office of Health Information Management, Medical Record Technicians unit at the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, North Carolina. The unit was responsible for translating medical care services provided to Veterans into billable codes recognized by third-party health insurers. Over the past three years, members of the coding unit have overcome individual differences in order to become a unified team, working together efficiently and effectively to focus on their shared goals. In addition to deliberate efforts to build camaraderie, the coding unit has benefited from increased training and expanded communications, both internal and external. The performance of the coding unit has also improved as a result of increased flexibility in how, when, and where work gets done. Their accuracy rate has climbed from 75 percent to 90 percent, and other facilities are now asking them for assistance with their coding concerns.