June 9, 2020

Dear Colleagues, 

This has been an extraordinary term, and a difficult one. I want to acknowledge and applaud how our campus community is facing the challenges of a global pandemic. Specifically, as faculty, I want to commend your heroic work to educate our students and to engage in research that furthers our mission as a public university.

Today, I am announcing two sets of awards to recognize faculty who have made exceptional efforts in remote instruction or engaged their research expertise to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

We plan to award up to 20 Excellence in Remote Teaching Awards to faculty who transformed traditional, face-to-face courses into remote teaching environments while maintaining the qualities we value at the UO: professional, inclusive, engaged and research-informed teaching.

We look forward to recognizing faculty who created accessible, engaging, well-organized learning environments where students built valuable relationships with their instructors and peers while experiencing compassionate flexibility during this unprecedented time. Faculty at any rank and classification are eligible. Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague using this brief nomination form.

In addition, we plan to award up to 20 COVID-19 Research Innovation Awards to recognize faculty research efforts deployed in response to COVID-19. Research is an integral part of the UO mission and, as a public university, we strive to bridge the extraordinary talents of our faculty with the needs of our communities in Eugene/Springfield, the state of Oregon, and, indeed, the larger society.

UO faculty have demonstrated great resilience and innovation in applying their research expertise to investigate and address COVID-19 and pandemic-related issues. Faculty at any rank and classification are eligible. Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague using this brief nomination form.

Each award for excellence in remote instruction or research innovation in relation to COVID-19 will include a stipend of $1,000 (plus OPE). Nominations are open through September 1, 2020, and awards will be announced in November.

Patrick Phillips
Provost and Senior Vice President