Overview

About Utah Valley University (UVU)

Utah Valley University is a multi-campus public university serving more than 45,000 students and 7,000 employees, including faculty, staff, part-time workers, and student employees. Known for its dual-mission model of combining top-tier academics with community-focused vocational programs, UVU operates with a commitment to “exceptional care,” the belief that employees should be seen, supported, and valued as people, not just roles.

That belief shows up in everyday language too. A few years ago, UVU’s HR department was rebranded to “People and Culture” — a small change that signaled a much bigger one in how the university thinks about the employee experience.

The Challenge

Centralizing and scaling a multi-campus culture of recognition

Recognition at UVU has never been an afterthought. From peer-to-peer shoutouts to large-scale award ceremonies, appreciation shows up in everyday moments and major milestones alike. Programs like peer-to-peer “Wolverine Sightings” were already part of the fabric of campus life. Employees recognized each other. Leaders reinforced values. The cultural foundation was strong.

But as the university grew, so did the complexity of running it all. UVU wasn’t managing one or two recognition programs, they were managing dozens. Department awards, college honors, campus-wide recognitions, and nomination-driven programs like PACE all required separate coordination. Each lived in its own tool: a survey here, a form there, an inbox somewhere else. Pulling everything together meant manual work and fragmented data, and most of the recognition that did happen lived only between the giver and the receiver.

“Before Awardco, our programs were scattered and siloed… a survey here, a form there. It wasn’t a very cohesive experience. There wasn’t really one consistent way to do things.”
Maddie Bagley, Appreciation Specialist, People & Culture, Utah Valley University

UVU didn’t need to build a culture of recognition. They needed a way to connect it, scale it, and make it visible across a campus that kept growing.

The Solution

Ease of recognition and widespread visibility

Awardco gave UVU a single platform to bring its recognition strategy together, without changing what already worked.

Instead of jumping between tools, employees now had one place to send a shoutout, nominate a colleague, or participate in any of the programs running across campus. Recognition that used to go unseen now lived in a shared feed where the rest of the university could see it.

“It’s become a one-stop shop… if I want to recognize a milestone, give a shoutout, or nominate someone for an award, I know exactly where to go.”
Maddie Bagley, Appreciation Specialist, People & Culture, Utah Valley University

Importantly, that visibility doesn’t depend on employees logging in every day. It meets them where they already are. Through My Circle email alerts, faculty and staff get updates whenever colleagues in their network are recognized. Recognition arrives in their inbox, no extra effort required. Over time, those small touchpoints add up. Employees follow the stories of their peers, celebrate wins across departments, and feel more connected to the broader university.

Nominations as a cultural engine

At UVU, recognition doesn’t just happen in the moment. It builds throughout the year and culminates in what employees affectionately call “Award Season.”

More than 50 awards programs run across the university, recognizing everything from quiet, behind-the-scenes contributions to nationally recognized achievements. In early spring, employees nominate their peers, surfacing the people making a real impact across campuses, departments, and roles. The PACE Distinguished Employee Awards are a clear example of how nominations work. PACE isn’t decided top-down. It’s driven by colleagues who see the work up close and take the time to call it out.

Before Awardco, running these programs took a lot of behind-the-scenes effort. Submissions came in through different surveys and tools, and assembling a complete picture meant stitching everything together by hand. Each program owner used their own method, which made the data scattered and largely untrackable. Even for the employees nominating, the process lived outside the systems they already used every day.

Now, nominations happen in a place employees already know and trust, with data flowing directly from UVU’s HR systems. Submitting is easier. Reviewing is easier. And for the first time, the data lives in one place.

“We were able to see everything in one place… we didn’t have to pull it all together manually. It made it so much easier.”
Brenda Betteridge, Business Development Manager, Utah Valley University

That shift has changed how nominations feel across campus. What used to be an administrative slog is now a more visible and engaging part of how UVU recognizes its people, and one of the clearest expressions of its culture in action.

The Results

A culture that scales without losing meaning

Once recognition was easier to access and more visible, participation climbed quickly.

• 47% increase in monthly Wolverine Sightings participation
• Recognition became a more consistent, campus-wide habit
• Employees engaged well beyond their immediate teams

“We saw a huge influx… we were riding a tidal wave. Now it’s at a sustainable level, but still significantly higher than before.”
Maddie Bagley, Appreciation Specialist, People & Culture, Utah Valley University

Visibility that changes how people engage

Visibility didn’t just raise awareness, it changed how employees interacted with recognition. The shared feed surfaces work happening in other departments and on other campuses, while My Circle email alerts bring close-peer recognition straight into the inbox in real time. Recognition now reaches employees in the formats and rhythms they already work in.

“The My Circle email alerts have made a big difference in helping colleagues feel more connected across our giant campus.”
Maddie Bagley, Appreciation Specialist, People & Culture, Utah Valley University

The effect compounds internally. Employee stories have become some of the highest-performing content on UVU’s intranet. Employees are drawn to stories about their colleagues — what they’re working on, the impact they’re making, and why they’re being celebrated.

“I love being able to see the full feed of the entire university… before Awardco, I had no idea what was happening in other departments. Being able to see what’s happening across the university really helps you feel more connected.”
Julia Escobar, Executive Assistant, People & Culture, Utah Valley University

“Previously, recognition was only known between the giver and receiver. Now I feel a lot more connected to colleagues across campus.”
Maddie Bagley, Appreciation Specialist, People & Culture, Utah Valley University

Recognition isn’t a moment anymore. It’s an ongoing narrative running across campus.

Nominations and programs at scale

UVU now runs an awards ecosystem that would be difficult to sustain without a centralized system. 50+ programs are coordinated and trackable in one platform, and participation in nomination-based programs has climbed significantly. More stories surface, more employees get recognized for their contributions, and the program scales as the university grows.

“Before, we had to piece everything together manually. Now it’s all in one place, and it just makes the nominations process make more sense.”
Brenda Betteridge, Business Development Manager, Utah Valley University

Adoption across the entire campus

Recognition is now a shared experience across roles and locations.

• 95% of full-time staff logged in
  
• 92% of full-time faculty logged in
  
• Engagement spans 7,000+ employees, including part-time and student workers

“It pulls everybody together… you get to see what everyone’s doing, even across different campuses.”
Brenda Betteridge, Business Development Manager, Utah Valley University

Faculty adoption isn't always a given in higher ed, where teaching schedules and academic culture can keep professors at arm's length from HR-led initiatives. At UVU, it looks different. Luke Dean, who directs UVU's CFP (Certified Financial Planner) program, a program that has earned 14 national championships, is one of the most active recognizers on the entire platform. For him, recognition isn't an HR exercise. It's how a high-performing team stays a high-performing team.

"Any workplace that wants to have a great culture needs to be great at recognizing when people go the extra mile."
Luke Dean, CFP Program Director, Utah Valley University

Teaching, as Luke describes it, is a job where you often don't know if you're making a difference. Recognition closes that loop, both for the colleagues he calls out and for the students whose lives are quietly being changed in classrooms across campus.

“Awardco has democratized employee recognition and made it so that anyone in the company that sees you doing great work can recognize and reward you for that.”
Luke Dean, CFP Program Director, Utah Valley University

From recognition to retention

With cleaner data and a single source of truth, UVU’s data team has been able to connect recognition to broader workforce outcomes. Their internal analysis tracks dozens of employee-lifecycle interventions (events, workshops, mentorship, leadership training, and more) and the results are striking: peer-to-peer recognition is the single most influential driver of employee retention.

In other words, the everyday “Wolverine Sighting” isn’t just a nice gesture. It’s the most predictive signal of whether an employee stays.

A hybrid approach that keeps it human

Even with a centralized platform, UVU continues to invest heavily in the offline side of recognition. Physical vouchers for movies and food. Gift baskets for life events through their Goodwill program. In-person award luncheons where winners are surprised in front of their peers. Awardco doesn’t replace any of that. It coordinates it, surfaces it, and gives it the infrastructure to scale.

“Awardco helps magnify the efforts we’re already doing and make them more visible.”
Maddie Bagley, Appreciation Specialist, People & Culture, Utah Valley University

That balance, software plus human touch, is what makes UVU’s program work. The technology takes care of the visibility, consistency, and data. The people take care of the meaning.

“It’s so easy to express appreciation… people go above and beyond, and it matters to let them know you see it.”
Luke Dean, CFP Program Director, Utah Valley University

Get a demo today to see how recognition can transform your own organization.