Risk Hero Spotlight

Purpose

The Risk Hero Spotlight celebrates individuals who demonstrate passion, expertise, and leadership in higher education risk management. Risk work is not just about policies and plans - it's also about the informal conversations that surface potential problems, the simple fixes that prevent incidents, the relationships that build a risk-aware culture, and the outreach that spreads good practices across campus and beyond.

Selection Criteria

Think about colleagues who:

  • Successfully mitigated or managed a risk event before it became an incident
  • Developed or was instrumental in developing an effective strategy that improved safety or efficiency
  • Created outreach initiatives (posts, guides, campaigns) that increased risk awareness
  • Regularly facilitated risk management discussions and/or activities aimed at inspiring others to take action

Examples of Risk Hero activities:

  • Publishing guidance or resources that help campuses manage risk
  • Leading awareness campaigns that improve the understanding of risk processes
  • Hosting informal "coffee chats" to keep risk management front and center
  • Forming cross-campus and cross-disciplinary partnerships that support lasting reductions in risk

Nominees:

  • Must be employed by an institution with an URMIA membership in good standing
  • Should have demonstrable impact in risk management - such as reducing risk, improving safety, enhancing processes, strengthening collaboration
  • Should be respected, positive advocates for higher education risk management

Selection and Timing

The Honors Committee will select a Risk Hero(s) to be spotlighted each quarter (March, June, September, December). Nominations are accepted on a rolling bassis for the next quarter's consideration. Deadline to apply is the first of the month prior to recognition month (i.e., May 1 for June recognition; August 1 for September recognition).

Nominate / Apply




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Risk Heros (as depicted by AI)
Higher education risk heroes (as depicted by AI)

Recognition

Recipients will be celebrated across the URMIA community through:

  • Profiles and posts on the URMIAnetwork and social media
  • Ribbons on their URMIA profile and conference badges
  • Inclusion in URMIA Insights features and promotion at the next annual conference