Outstanding Service Award

The Outstanding Service Award is presented annually to recognize a career of outstanding service to ACM SIGGRAPH by a volunteer. It recognizes an individual who has given extraordinary service to ACM SIGGRAPH, both in the trenches and in positions of more responsibility or visibility, over a significant period of time. The award includes a lifetime membership in ACM SIGGRAPH.

Current Recipient

For her over thirty-five years of outstanding and impactful service to the computer graphics community, ACM SIGGRAPH recognizes Mk Haley with the 2025 Outstanding Service Award.

Mk, who has been a SIGGRAPH member since 1989, has contributed to the ACM SIGGRAPH organization, the SIGGRAPH Conference, and ACM.

Her contributions to the organization began with the SIGGRAPH Education Committee where she served from 1990-1997. She was the SPACE Art Show Chair and with Jackie White, was co-editor of the Education Committee Newsletter. In 2004-2007 she was the ACM SIGGRAPH Director of Communications. In 2017-2020 she was the SIGGRAPH Conference Frontiers Program Chair while the Program was getting started as an organizational effort. It became a regular SIGGRAPH Conference venue in 2021. She has also worked with the S3 Committee (SIGGRAPH Student Services, currently renamed as the Early Career Development Committee) as a program advisor and a participant mentor.

In 2010-2012, she served on the ACM-Computers in Entertainment Board of Editors

She has served in different aspects of the SIGGRAPH Conference beginning in 1989 when she hosted 11 Student Volunteers at her parent’s house for the Boston SIGGRAPH Conference. She served as a SIGGRAPH Conference Student Volunteer in 1990-1992 and as a SIGGRAPH Conference Student Volunteer Team Leader for 1993-1995. In 1997, she was the SIGGRAPH Conference Student Volunteer Chair. In 2001, she was the SIGGRAPH Conference Emerging Technologies Chair. She was the SIGGRAPH Conference Chair for 2013 and served on the SIGGRAPH Conference Advisory Group from 2011-2014. In 2022, she was the SIGGRAPH Conference Emerging Technologies Chair. She has also been a frequent Conference content juror and onsite panel moderator/papers session wrangler. She is the SIGGRAPH 2026 RTL! (Real Time Live!) Venue Chair.

Her most substantial contributions were to the Conference Student Volunteer and Emerging Technologies Programs. For the Student Volunteer Program, she helped guide it through several evolutions as it expanded and contracted over time, and she mentored students toward both professional success and more senior roles within the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. For the Emerging Technologies Program she helped it to evolve and remain a consistent and distinctive part of the Conference.

In her service activities, Mk has exhibited strong qualities of leadership and expertise. With this award, ACM SIGGRAPH celebrates Mk Haley’s many contributions to both the SIGGRAPH Conference and to the organization.

Nomination Procedure

The criteria used to evaluate the award include the importance of the service and the degree of sacrifice incurred by the volunteer. Nominations for the Outstanding Service Award are evaluated by committee and may be submitted to the Outstanding Service Award Chair by January 31 of each year.

Requirements