Weber State University students, alumni, faculty and staff are invited to submit nominations for the prestigious H. Aldous Dixon Award.

The Alumni Association began recognizing outstanding WSU faculty and staff with this award in 1970. Beginning in 2006, two awards have been given each year, one to a faculty member and one to a staff member.

“After I got here, somebody told me they thought the funnel was too narrow,” said Lynell Gardner, executive director of WSU Alumni Relationships. “Predominately people who were receiving it were faculty. This has since been a good theme because there are so many outstanding people from both that need to be recognized.”

Joel Bass, assistant athletic director for Student Support Services and head athletic trainer, received one of the awards last spring.

“My first reaction was to think what I had done any different than anybody else that would make me a candidate to receive the award,” Bass said. “I don’t feel like I do anything special besides doing my job the best I can.”

However, Bass is considered the driving force behind creating both undergraduate and graduate programs in athletic training, as well as developing the curriculum and assembling the administrative staff.

“I knew that in the year 2004,  the current educational process would be ended, which was an internship route to athletic training,” Bass said. “I felt that we needed to be ahead of the game and develop a major as soon as possible to be on the forefront of universities in the state to provide that major for students.”

Gordon T. Allred also received an award last spring. Allred taught in the English department at WSU for 48 years.

In 1937, Henry Aldous Dixon was selected to be the president of Weber College.

Dixon’s daughters say, in a short movie played at the award ceremony each year, their father knew the name of every single student at Weber College.

Richard Sadler, dean and professor of history at WSU, also said Dixon knew that education meant more than coming to college to take classes. Dixon wanted the students to learn how to make a living, but also to learn how to make a life.

“The legacy of Henry Aldous Dixon will always be linked to Weber, as few leaders of this institution have had such significant and memorable impact,” Sadler said.

Recipients are recognized at a luncheon held annually in March and are presented with a $500 award from the Dixon Family Foundation.

The Alumni Association chooses recipients from the nominations it receives.

“Alumni know who made a difference in their lives in the past, but we would love to have current students nominate someone who is making a difference right now,” Gardner said.

Bass said this is a chance for students to thank someone who has played an important role in their educational process.

“Sometimes it takes years for us to give back to a university to say thanks for what the university has done for us,” Bass said.  “But this is an opportunity to give thanks right now and allow those influential people to be recognized right now for a job well done.”

According to the Alumni Association, qualified candidates for the awards are individuals who are distinguished members of the WSU staff and faculty who have sought to meet the needs of students and who strive for excellence in their careers.

Gardner invites everyone ever involved at WSU to “nominate a candidate and rally others to nominate that same person as well.”

To make a nomination, students can visit www.alumni.weber.edu and fill out information on their nominees by Feb. 1.