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UMass ADVANCE is seeking nominations for its 2026 Faculty Peer Mentor Awards and Equitable Practices in Collaboration (EPiC) Awards. All faculty members are encouraged to help honor colleagues who merit recognition for their commitment to equitable collaboration. 

Now in its seventh year, the ADVANCE Faculty Peer Mentoring Awards are distributed annually to one faculty member in each school/college and the UMass Libraries. The awards highlight the critically important work faculty members perform in mentoring and supporting their colleagues’ professional development and success. Nominees should be faculty members who have excelled in mentoring faculty in their department, school/college or across the university. As ADVANCE is focused on building a more inclusive faculty, nominations should explicitly state how the mentoring improves equity and inclusion within the school or college and/or the university. 

The ADVANCE Equitable Practices in Collaboration (EPiC) Award recognizes faculty groups that mindfully shift the distribution of resources, recognition and relationships as they cultivate effective, equitable and inclusive collaboration practices.

Faculty Mentor awardees will each receive $250, and EPiC awardees will receive $500. All awardees will be profiled on the ADVANCE website and honored during the ADVANCE Annual Distinguished Lecture on April 17, 2026.

Nominations for faculty peer mentors or self-nominations for EPiC faculty groups must be received by January 16, 2026. 

For questions, contact [email protected].