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Association of Retirement Organizations
in Higher Education

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At AROHE, we recognize that higher education retirees are valuable assets to society, reinventing, not retiring from, life, positively impacting their communities and contributing to the greater good. 


NominatE an AROHE hero

Don’t miss the opportunity to bring national recognition to outstanding projects or individuals of your retirement organizations. This is your chance to nominate a deserving candidate for AROHE’s exclusive Higher Education Retirement Organization (HERO) Awards. These awards are designed to recognize the outstanding efforts of retirement organizations in higher education and the individuals that are transforming retirement practices and/or influencing creative life of the mind activities on a wider scale. Nominees must be current members of AROHE.

What do awardees receive?

One member from each awarded organization will receive complimentary registration for the 2026 AROHE Virtual Conference. A letter of award selection and a press release will be sent to institution officials and recognition will occur during a ceremony at the Virtual Conference. Recipients will receive $100 for their retirement organizations. Recipients and their entries will be featured in AROHE publications such as the AROHE Matters e-newsletter, the AROHE website, and/or AROHE Briefs.

Awards Timeline

Nominations open: Monday, June 22, 2026
Nominations close: Saturday August 15, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
Award Notifications: August 31, 2026

Award Presentations: At the conference, October 6-8, 2026

Award Categories and Criteria


This award recognizes one individual for significant contributions, distinguished leadership, and service to AROHE. Awardee will be invited to join the 2026 Virtual Conference Resource Fair to discuss his/her roles and accomplishments in service to AROHE and sharing his/her vision of future directions for AROHE.

Criteria:

    • Distinguished service for a minimum of five years to AROHE.
    • Served in a leadership role for AROHE.
    • Continues to serve as an ambassador for AROHE.
    • Demonstrated continued professionalism in higher education elevating the voice of retirees.


This award recognizes one individual for significant contributions and service to his/her institution’s retirement organization. Awardee will be invited to join the Resource Fair at the 2021 Virtual Conference to discuss his/her new initiative or activity and its benefit to his/her retirement organization.

Criteria:

    • Minimum of three years of continuous active membership with AROHE as of October 2021.
    • Spearheaded a new initiative since 2018 that heightens retiree engagement at his/her retirement organization.



This award recognizes a retirement organization’s innovation in programs, services or initiatives that strengthen the value of the organization to its members, institution, or community. All awardees will be invited to discuss their innovative programs at the Resource Fair of the AROHE 2026 Virtual Conference and/or lead an AROHE Idea Exchange Webinar discussing their featured program.

Criteria:

    • Novelty of idea
    • Meets a specific need
    • Increased Value to the organization
    • Documented outcomes
    • Ability of innovation to be replicated
    • Innovation adds to knowledge about higher education retirement organizations

 Application Process

    • Application form and letter of support must be submitted by a current AROHE member.
    • A panel of judges from the conference committee will evaluate the nominees and applicants for each award. 
    • Individuals who are employed by AROHE or who serve on the AROHE board of directors are not eligible to receive an award during their terms of service.
    • Distinguished Leadership or Distinguished Service Award: Individuals will be eligible to receive only one of these individual awards.
    • Innovation Award: priority will be given to those institutions who have not received an Innovation Award in the past.

Questions about the process?

Please contact Roger Baldwin, Conference Committee chair, at rbaldwin@msu.edu.

2018 Innovation Award Winners

Three outstanding projects were recognized when AROHE's Innovation Awards debuted at the 2018 conference at Emory University in Atlanta. The Innovation Awards have now become just one of the three types of AROHE HERO Awards, along with the Distinguished Leadership Award and the Distinguished Service Award.


ISEP (International Science & Engineering Fair)
AZ Preparatory Program

This ground-breaking initiative involved extensive partnerships among the ASU Emeritus College, University of Arizona faculty, corporations, Arizona Science Center, and other science fairs. The program achieved demonstrable results, with an increase in the number of Arizona students winning awards.
Extensive details on organization of the Contact the ASU Emeritus College to request materials to jump-start similar programs.

Faculty Roles in the Emeritus College | Clemson University, South Carolina

Emeritus College

Language Skills Program

This program serves international graduate students across academic programs. It is a collaboration of the Clemson Emeritus College with the English Department, the Pearce Center for Professional Communication, and Office of Global Engagement. Emeriti provide mentoring and preparation for the Clemson English Speaking Proficiency (CESP) test which is used to determine if the student has the English language skills needed to be a teaching assistant. AROHE members can review an AROHE Brief on this project on the Knowledge Center webpage.

Council of UC Retiree Associations

Comprehensive Retiree Survey

This groundbreaking, comprehensive survey of UC retired staff was conducted to demonstrate the value that retirees bring to the UC system. The published report “UC Retirees: Advocates, Ambassadors, Assets” has been shared widely with administrators at all 13 UC locations, and with the Office of the President, and has been successful in advocating for increased support and recognition of retired faculty and staff. AROHE members can review an AROHE Brief on this project on the Knowledge Center webpage.

Contact Information

info@arohe.org
814-299-5283
P.O. Box 37, Dubois PA 15801

AROHE will never sell or give your personal information to sponsors or partners without your expressed permission. This permission is typically done as a part of an event registration where members and registrants "opt in" to receive email notices from a partner or sponsor. In this case a member or registrant's email address is provided to the sponsor or partner.


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