Intro
Campus safety comes in many forms and takes a community.
Campus Safety comes in many forms—from health and wellness initiatives to emergency response and personal safety. The Catamount Safety Awards are designed to acknowledge activism within the UVM community in the areas of safety, security, health and wellbeing, and promoting a culture of safety on the UVM campus. It takes a community to protect a community.
We invite you to nominate UVM community members for a Catamount Safety Award—potential focuses for nomination are described below. These awards are open to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other UVM community members in good standing with the University. Awardees will be recognized at a ceremony in the spring, receive an award certificate and a UVM Safety Challenge Coin, and be named on a plaque.
Jarlath O'Neil Dunne Award for Safety Innovation
In early 2024 we lost a valued, energetic colleague. Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne will be remembered at UVM as an innovator and an ambassador of wellness. Henceforth this award shall be named for his contributions to UVM and the state of Vermont.
Recipients
Nominees
Potential Nomination Focuses
Culture of Safety
Recognizes work in expanding participation in any aspect of a formal safety program. This may include recognizing a previously unmanaged hazard, developing outreach to a group that is not currently active in a safety program, or taking a leadership role in promoting open communication within a group to promote positive safety attitudes and encourage hazard recognition, assessment, and minimization.
Fire Safety
Recognizes contributions to Fire Safety on campus, including but not limited to Fire Safety Education, Fire Safety Awareness, and Fire Safety Response.
Life Saving
Recognizes an individual who takes prompt and direct action resulting in the saving of a life. The lifesaving event will have occurred on the UVM campus or in direct connection with an approved UVM winter or summer program or while in an official capacity representing UVM during the academic year, locally or abroad.
Safety Education
Recognizes contributions to building awareness and strengthening a culture of safety, security, and health at UVM through educational outreach, public service campaigns, or hands-on training.
Safety Innovation
Recognizes and celebrates exceptional initiatives, practices, or technologies that contribute to enhancing safety, security, or campus health innovation and modernization.
Safety Professional
Recognizes individuals whose daily work and role at UVM focuses on safety, security, and health & wellbeing. These individuals not only do excellent work but go above and beyond their regular job duties, keeping the UVM community safe.
Teamwork
Recognizes a UVM team or group whose collective efforts have significantly contributed to the safety of UVM’s campus, infrastructure, or people, with a focus on the synergy that is created through collaborative teamwork and the impact the team has on safety, security, and campus health.
Presidential
Recognizes significant accomplishments in improving safety, health, and security at the University of Vermont. This is the highest level of safety award, and these may include new or innovative methods for implementation of safety protocols, excellence in safety program implementation, improvement in a safety program, personal leadership in safety, and consistent safety performance over time.
Nomination Writing Tips
Schedule
2026 Awards Schedule
- September 16th: Launch Nomination Form
- March 3rd: Nominations due
- April 1st: Awardees selected by Committee
- April 23rd: Awards Ceremony, Grand Maple Ballroom (3-4:30pm)
UVM Culture of Safety
Culture of Safety
The University of Vermont strives to promote a strong culture of safety on our campus. Visit Culture of Safety for more information.
The University of Vermont Safety and Security Philosophy
Maintaining a safe and secure campus at which to learn, work, live, and play is of the highest priority for the University of Vermont. UVM’s unique position within the community causes it to function much like a small municipality. As such, the University has adopted and continually refines with constituent input measures to complement personal preparedness and good common sense.