Nomination Procedures for Distinguished Professorships, Conti Fellowships and Other Competitive Awards
The most burdensome part of the process for most competitive awards involves soliciting letters. For nomination as a Distinguished Professor, these must be from an international set of references testifying to the star-status of the nominees and assembling a file of the nominees' publications, awards, teaching honors, etc. However, it is both unnecessary and unreasonable to expect this to be done for each nominee at the departmental level for most competitive awards. At the Dean's level, we only need letters on behalf of each department's nominee from the Department Chair and the Chair of the voting Personnel Committee, along with a complete and up-to-date vitae.
Deadlines
Generally speaking, the materials to the Dean's office should be received at least by the official submission deadlines and any advance notice is appreciated.
Distinguished Professor Nominations: Since this is a matter that is generally acted upon at the Provost level in the spring, the first Monday in April is a the deadline for the Dean's Office. This will provide time enough to make a final selection at the Dean's level, and still have time for a department to assemble the candidate's file and extensive reference letters before the end of May.
Conti Fellowships: Each year the Office of Research Affairs (ORA) publishes the deadlines for submission to the Dean's office and for the final submission to the ORA. There is generally a lag of only one month between these dates and much of that time is during intersession. As a result, departments may not want to wait until final notice from the Dean's office before beginning to compile materials for the award.
Submission and Adjudication
Please submit nominations to the Associate Dean for Research, Doug Anderton. Where there are more nominees for such awards than may go forward from the College, the ADR will notify the College's Executive Committee and they will meet to provide recommendations to the Dean. The Dean will make the final determination and notify the appropriate departments or individuals.
Criteria
Qualifications for Distinguished Professors: The title of Distinguished Professor may be awarded to full professors with the following qualifications:
1. Outstanding research, teaching, and/or public service contributions that are widely recognized nationally, and/or internationally, as appropriate.
2. Extraordinary level of productivity and impact in his/her field of study that goes well beyond the existing high expectations for full professors on campus.
3. A level of productivity and impact that has been demonstrated for an extended period of time.
4. Pre-eminence in his/her field of study.
5. Recognition by professional organizations for outstanding contributions to the field (e.g., receipt of national awards).
6. A person who would be a major loss to the University if he/she were to leave and would impact on the University’s national and international reputation.
7. A person considered to be a role model for faculty and students.
Qualifications for Conti Fellowships: The criteria for the Conti Fellowships are simply "outstanding accomplishments and potential for continued excellence" in the judgment of the Faculty Senate's Research Council. If you wish to explore qualifications further one avenue is to examine the recent awardees.
Submitted to Dean's Office November 27, 2006
