The Send Roses Award began in March 1987 as an outgrowth of the Courtesy Benefits Everyone program of the Personnel Department. Ann R. Tillette, a Book and Supply Store (renamed VolShop in 2013) employee, was first to be honored as the Most Courteous Employee of the Month by a visit from Chancellor Jack Reese, bearing a bouquet of roses, and a sign reserving a parking place for her for a month.