The Fund for Faculty Excellence was established in 2006, thanks to generous gifts from Lorry I. Lokey to Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives. The fund is designed to support the university’s strategic commitment to improve its overall academic quality and reputation by rewarding, recognizing, and retaining nationally competitive faculty who have a record of distinction in their quality of scholarship and creative accomplishment, contribution to their respective field, and contribution to the university.
The awards program provides top faculty members with salary supplements or research support to recognize world-class research. The program may help retain or preemptively retain outstanding faculty who may be recruited by other institutions.
The Fund for Faculty Excellence supports a one-time award of $20,000 or research funds amounting to $26,200.
Research award distribution is subject to policy and procedure.
Nominations
The University of Oregon is again pleased to request nominations for the 2020-21 Fund for Faculty Excellence Awards. Nominations will come directly from the Deans. Nominees will include tenured faculty who have sustained a record of distinction in quality of scholarship or creative practice, contribution to their respective field, and contribution to the university.
Process
Deans from each school and college will submit nominations for exceptional tenured faculty. The provost selects up to 20 award recipients based upon recommendations from a diverse committee of distinguished senior faculty members who have previously received the award. Awards will be based on satisfaction of the criteria and will not necessarily be distributed proportionally across schools and colleges. Award winners will receive funds starting in winter term.
Deans will submit nominations by May 15, 2021.
- A completed nomination form for each nominee which includes a one-page statement written in a manner that a person without professional or specialized knowledge in the discipline could easily understand
- The nominee’s CV
Deans are asked to ensure a diverse slate of faculty nominees are forwarded for consideration. Nominations should remain confidential.
For questions, please contact OtP@uoregon.edu.
Eligibility
Awards are restricted to tenured faculty, with an emphasis on recently promoted associate and full professors. Normally, faculty who hold endowed chairs and professorships are not eligible for these awards. Previous Fund for Faculty Excellence awardees will become eligible again after three years.
Criteria
Evaluation will be made based on the following criteria and will emphasize contributions in the last five years:
Quality of scholarship or creative practice: This is evidenced by the individual’s standing in the discipline and the impact of the individual’s work in their field. Evidence for significant standing and impact in the candidate’s field will focus primarily on the record of publication and other such scholarly and creative accomplishments along with additional signs of scholarly recognition as membership in selective national and international professional and honorary societies, receipt of national and international awards and recognitions, and grants and other external support of research, scholarship, and creative activity.
Contribution to their respective field: This is evidenced by the individual’s centrality to strategic and significant areas of research, scholarship and/or creative practice; mentorship of graduate (especially doctoral) students and supervision of theses and dissertations; contribution to interdisciplinary research programs, centers, and institutes; and intellectual leadership within a department or program.
Contribution to the university: This is evidenced by the individual’s participation in the development of the UO academic mission. Such contributions should exemplify an enduring commitment to institutional values for learning, intellectual inquiry, and service whether through the IDEAL framework, internationalization, interdisciplinarity, outreach to external communities, or similar contributions beyond one’s immediate departmental efforts.