

Values and Inclusion Program
Truth, Love, Respect, Opportunity, Excellence, Service
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The Values and Inclusion Program (VIP) recognizes employees who demonstrate a commitment to inclusion, thereby emphasizing and promulgating the University’s core values: truth, love, respect, opportunity, excellence, and service. All faculty, administrators, and staff are eligible for nomination; all campuses are encouraged to participate.
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2026 VIP. The nomination period will remain open through December 23, 2025. All members of the University community are encouraged to nominate a deserving employee: complete the form here. For program details, see below.

How it Works
Annually, the Office of Human Resources (HR) holds an open nomination period. During this time, members of the University community can nominate faculty, administrators and staff who demonstrate a commitment to inclusion in the workplace or learning environment. A nomination can be written for an employee’s consistent trait or the result of a significant, one-time event. All eligible VIP nominees will be recognized and announced to the University community.
For questions about the VIP employee recognition program, contact Human Resources at 718-990-1865, press 8.
Who Can Nominate
Any member of the University community can nominate an employee for recognition (e.g., a peer, supervisor, employee in a different department, department head, student, faculty member, etc.). Employees are nominated for demonstrating one or more of our six core values (i.e., truth, love, respect, opportunity, excellence, and service) to further inclusion at St. John’s University.
Recognition
All eligible employees who are nominated will be announced to the University community and receive recognition. In addition, past nominees are listed on the Human Resources VIP website. A selection committee will review nominations and recommend three recipients for recognition by the University President.
University Core Values
Truth
Knowledge in accord with reality, behavior faithful to ethical standards. St. John’s affirms the threefold mission of a University to seek truth through research, to disseminate it through teaching, and to act on it. The University values and utilizes the perspectives of different cultures to assist its members in seeking truth and developing ethical standards, while affirming the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Love
Focusing and extending minds and hearts to nurture one’s own and another’s good. Love expressed in the University community is not a feeling but an action for the corporate good manifested through the time, talent, and energy of its members. It is a responsible dedication to utilize available resources and turn them toward humanity’s good.
Respect
Awareness of and esteem for all individuals. A courteous regard for all people whose diversity is embraced and shared in learning, teaching, and service to others within the University community and beyond.
Opportunity
Circumstances favorable to serving others and preparing one’s self for a fulfilling life. Guided by its central commitment to equality, justice, and Christian morality, the University makes its resources available to all its members to pursue their individual and collective interests.
Excellence
Striving, growing, never being complacent: the St. John’s community empowers and inspires students, faculty, administration, and staff to succeed in programs which assist them in every area of achievement.
Service
Vincentian spirituality in action, a response to God’s call to give of ourselves. Our obligation and commitment to service lie not only in our active compassion as an institution, but in the cultivation of these priorities and values in the members of our community. We are committed to a life of stewardship as a caretaker of God-given talents, resources, and knowledge, and caregiver responding to the needs of others.
University Inclusivity Statement
A dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion is at the heart of our mission. As a Catholic and Vincentian University, St. John’s is committed to institutionalizing practices of inclusive excellence to ensure that we welcome and celebrate the intrinsic worth of all members of our community.
We will become an even stronger University as we enhance equity at every level of our institution. As noted in our Vision Statement, our graduates will excel in the competencies and values required for leadership and service in a rapidly evolving world.
Past Nominees
Congratulations to the 2025 VIP Recipients. A reception was held on April 16, 2025 on the Queens campus to recognize and celebrate the VIP honorees. You can read the story and view photos here. View the list of nominees here.
Congratulations to the 2023 VIP recipients! View the list of nominees.
Congratulations to the 2021-2022 VIP recipients! View the list of nominees.
Congratulations to the 2020 VIP recipients! Click here to view the list of nominees.
Congratulations to the 2019 VIP recipients! Click here to view the list of nominees.