Wesley Awards

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can as long as ever you can."
-- John Wesley  

The John Wesley Leadership and Service Award for Students and The John Wesley Trustee Award for Faculty and Staff are given each spring. The recipients of these prestigious honors are also presented with a $5,000 award and introduced at the Commencement Eve Reception.

For more information, see past award recipients, or to nominate the person of your choice, please see below:
Selection Process 
Nomination Forms
Past Award Recipients
Award History

Selection Process

During the month of February students, faculty and staff are invited to submit nominations for the Wesley Awards. Students may nominate themselves, but it is required that a supporting letter from a member of the Hamline Community is included with self-nomination.

A John Wesley Awards Review Committee--with faculty, staff, student and external representatives (selected by the Dean of Students)--reviews all of the nominations end of February or early March, and forwards their recommendations for 3-4 finalists in each category (faculty, staff, undergraduate student, law/grad student) to a committee of the Board of Trustees, who make the final selection.

The nominations, the finalists, and the deliberations are considered confidential until the public announcement of the recipients. Presentation of the awards takes place at the Commencement Eve Reception every year. The recipients are also introduced at the May Board of Trustees meeting.

Guidelines for Successful Nominations

1. The nomination document(s) for an individual may not exceed three pages total.

2. Succesful nominations have been well written and thoughtful, citing multiple specific examples of how the nominee carries out the spirit of the Wesley Award - by demonstrating a commitment to leadership and service, and contribution to the advancement of student centeredness, diversity, innovation, integration and transformation within the Hamline Community.

3. A nomination submitted by a group of people does not necessarily carry more weight than one submitted by a single individual.

4. A nominee's Facebook or MySpace 'persona' should not be inconsistent with the picture you convey in your nomination.

5. All student finalists disciplinary and academic records will be reviewed and considered.

Nomination Forms

Please return nomination forms and supporting information to the Dean of Students Office in Bush Student Center, Room 106, or by mail to MS-C1901.  Deadline date is Monday, March 4, 2013.

*NOTE: Past Wesley award recipients are not eligible. 

 2013 Student Nomination Form
 2013 Faculty and Staff Nomination Form

 Award History

The John Wesley Leadership and Service Award for Students was established by the Hamline University Board of Trustees through a generous gift of $100,000, from Trustee Gordon Walker ’51, in 1999. The expressed purpose of the award was to enable the Board of Trustees to reward those students who best demonstrate a commitment to leadership and service that lies at the heart of Hamline University. An award is presented each year to an undergraduate student a law or graduate student.

Inspired by Mr. Walker, the Board of Trustees established the John Wesley Trustee Award for Faculty and Staff in 2001, to recognize the contributions made by Hamline employees to the New American University vision. Trustee Robb and Jackie Prince endowed the faculty award in 2002. These awards honor a faculty and staff member who consistently demonstrates the university’s core values of high quality and rigorous academics, a commitment to making the world a better place, and a focus on ethics and civility. The award also recognizes individuals whose actions embrace characteristics of the New American University including student centeredness, diversity, innovation, integration, and transformation.

The John Wesley Trustee Awards are presented to the recipients at the annual Commencement Eve Reception, the evening before the graduation ceremonies.