Service and Engagement Award Guidelines
THE COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES OUTSTANDING SERVICE AND ENGAGEMENT AWARDS
Application Criteria and Guidelines
Deadline: February 9, 2024
The CNS Outstanding Service and Engagement Award recognizes and honors faculty and Extension professionals for their excellence and achievement in service/outreach.
Eligibility
- Faculty are nominated by department heads/chairs or a suitable designee.
- A faculty member who has received a university award in recognition of his or her service or outreach accomplishments is not eligible, nor are faculty who have received college-based service or outreach awards within the past 7 years. Extension professionals can be nominated by their supervisors or the Extension Director.
Award Criteria
- Successful nominees will have demonstrated outstanding internal service (to the department, college or university), outstanding service and outreach to the relevant professional research community, and/or outstanding service to other constituents (e.g., the K-12 sector or the general community). Non-research outreach activities also may be considered (e.g., economic sustainability, alumni relations).
- Contributions may be spread over a relatively long time period, such as a major portion of a career, and may be characterized by contributions in more than one area.
- Service to external constituencies must be related to the nominee’s academic scholarship or Extension appointment.
The Nomination Process
The following documentation should be assembled into one pdf document. Keep in mind that a multidisciplinary committee of faculty from across CNS who are not specialists in the nominee’s field will be reviewing and evaluating the candidate’s materials.
- A nomination letter written and submitted by the department head/chair (or a suitable designee) (maximum 2 pages). The letter should advocate for the nominee and outline the case for why and how the nominee has met the award criteria. If the nomination letter is from someone other than the department head/chair, it should also indicate the relationship between the nominator and nominee.
- A summary of the nominee’s outreach and service, prepared by the faculty member being nominated (maximum of two pages).
- An abbreviated professional CV, made pertinent to the award criteria (maximum of five pages). The CV should include appointment and years of service in CNS (or predecessors).
- Up to three letters of support from colleagues and peers. At least one letter should be from an individual who is external to UMass (maximum of two pages each). The letters should:
- demonstrate how the nominee meets the criteria for the award;
- describe the relationship between the letter writer and the nominee.
Deadline
Nominating materials for the CNS Outstanding Service & Engagement Award are due no later than 5 p.m. on February 9, 2024.