The University community " students, staff and faculty " has been asked to help nominate student and citizen role models for two prestigious awards, the USA Today All-USA College Academic Team and the Above & Beyond Citizens Honors through the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

USA Today is selecting some of the nation's best college students for the 19th annual All-USA College Academic Team. The award winners are students who excel not only in scholarship but in leadership roles on and off campus, with the student describing his or her most outstanding undergraduate intellectual endeavor in a written essay. The newspaper will name 20 students to the All-USA College Academic first team and 40 additional students to the second and third teams.

The USA Today award nomination deadline is Nov. 30, 2007. The 20 student winners will be featured in a two-page color presentation announced in the newspaper in February 2008. Each winner will receive a trophy and $2,500 cash reward.

Please visit http://allstars.usatoday.com for more information or to nominate a student.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society is calling upon the American public to nominate fellow citizens for a non-partisan, non-military initiative, Above & Beyond. Above & Beyond Citizens Honors will select a finalist from every state, and from these people the society will recognize three living civilian Americans. There is no minimum age requirement. Honorees should be those who have made a difference in the lives of others through a singular act of extraordinary heroism, or through their continued commitment to putting others before themselves, without regard for personal gain.

The deadline for Above & Beyond Citizen Honors nominations is Dec.16, 2007. On March 25, 2008, National Medal of Honor Day, The Congressional Medal of Honor Society will present the awards during a live event hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams at Constitutional Hall in Washington, D.C. The program will be broadcast to the nation on March 30, 2008.

Please visit www.aboveandbeyond365.com for more information or to nominate a community hero.

Send your nominations in for deserving citizens, colleagues, co-workers, family, friends, teachers, students and neighbors of our community.