Faculty Award Opportunities – UH Level
The Provost recently announced the annual University-level award nomination deadlines. Descriptions and deadlines for these programs are available on the Provost’s Awards site. Please strongly consider seeking nomination for relevant awards. In the near future, we will also have collated information for non-UH awards. Also, recall that NSM has awards for Junior Faculty Research Excellence, Excellence in Teaching, and a new award for Excellence in Service. Those deadlines are in early 2022 and will be separately announced.
The Esther Farfel Award
($10,000) – Nominations due November 19, 2021
- Nominees must be tenured faculty members who have held a full-time continuous faculty appointment at the University of Houston for at least five academic years prior to the year of nomination. Tenured faculty members who have otherwise held a full-time continuous faculty appointment for five years, but who have served in either an interim or full-time senior administrative role (i.e., dean or above), are excluded from nomination until a minimum of three years after they have returned to their tenured faculty position in a full-time capacity.
- Nominees must demonstrate excellence in all areas of faculty responsibility. For those tenured faculty members who may have held a temporary position as interim university administrator, the time spent in that interim administrative position will not be considered a break in faculty service for the purposes of this nomination. The selection committee will consider only those nomination packages where the nominee has demonstrated excellence in all three of the categories listed below:
- The significance of national/international impact of the candidate’s research or creative activity; and
- Evidence of outstanding teaching ability; and
- Distinctive and exemplary service to the University, the profession, and the community.
Teaching Excellence Awards
(Variable: $3,500–$12,000 and up; EIGHT award categories) – Nominations due November 8, 2021
- Faculty, students, and alumni may make nominations. A faculty member may be nominated in only one of the eight (8) individual award categories (Category 1–8) in any given year. Only one nominee per individual award category will receive an award in any given year. A faculty member is eligible to receive both a Group Teaching Excellence Award and any other award drawn from Categories 1–8 in the same year.
- Previous recipients of a teaching excellence award in a particular category are ineligible to be nominated in the same category for a period of six years. However, the faculty member remains eligible to be nominated for a teaching excellence award in any of the remaining categories, with the exception of the Career Award and the Distinguished Leadership Award (Categories 7 and 8), each of which an individual may receive only once during their career at UH.
Moores Professorship
(~$10,000 annual stipend) – Nominations due February 1, 2022
- Research, Scholarship, and/or Creative Activities
- Documented excellence in research, scholarship, and/or creative activities.
- Clear distinction on a national and/or international level.
- Teaching
- Documented excellence in teaching or mentoring at the undergraduate and/or graduate level.
- Clear distinction on a national and/or international level.
- Service
- Outstanding participation in governance or other uncompensated services at departmental, college, university, national, and/or international levels.
- Clear distinction on a local, national, and/or international level.
Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award
($5,000) – Nominations due February 1, 2022
- Any full-time tenured faculty member at University of Houston who has successfully mentored graduate students at the master’s or doctoral level is eligible to be nominated. Nominations of previously nominated but not selected individuals may be updated and resubmitted. A faculty member may not win the award more than once.
- Nominees must have gained distinction as a graduate student mentor on campus with an established reputation for:
- Facilitating student learning by making complex ideas understandable and meaningful to students.
- Establishing and maintaining high academic standards.
- Serving as a positive role model of a professional, with personal integrity, high ethical standards, and achievable standards for personal excellence.
- Consistent and ongoing guidance of students regarding resources within and outside the university, conflict resolution, and advocacy for completion of the program of study in a timely manner.
- Substantially influencing the academic and professional pursuits of students through activities such as funded research, co-authorship on publications, and co-presentations at national or international conferences.
- Nominees must have a demonstrated and continuing success as a graduate student mentor over a significant portion of their career and for a minimum of 5 years at the University of Houston.
Mentoring Undergraduate Research Award
($1,500) – Nominations due February 4, 2022
- Nominations for this award should present evidence of significant contributions to advancing undergraduate research and scholarship on the University of Houston main campus. Applicants should not include mentorship that took place outside of the University of Houston, nor should candidates include information on undergraduate research courses they have taught. This means candidates should not include information on senior design courses and course projects within their application materials.
- The Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards faculty selection committee reviews the nominations. The strongest nominations demonstrate a commitment to undergraduate research through specific examples, such as peer-reviewed publications involving undergraduates, student presentations, showings, performances, awards, or scholarships, and evidence of continuing success of mentored students (including where the students are now if possible). The selection committee reserves the right to be flexible in the selection process, subject to funding availability. Recommendations from the selection committee are forwarded to the Office of the Provost for review and final approval.
Global Faculty Award
($1,500) – Nominations due February 1, 2022
Nominees under this category must be:
- Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty who have been in residence at the University of Houston for at least two academic years prior to the year of nomination;
- And, if a previous award recipient, submitting the nomination no earlier than three academic years following a prior award.
Piper Professor Award
($5,000) – Nominees are selected by the UH Teaching Excellence Committee (this process may be expanded in the future)
- Any current full-time UH faculty who has taught for a minimum of at least five academic years prior to the year of nomination may apply.
- Must have been a recipient of a university-level Faculty Teaching Award.
- Must have demonstrated continued teaching excellence at UH. Demonstrated community engagement and service is expected.
- Must be available for teaching observation during the spring 2022 semester so that the committee members may observe their classes or instructional materials.
- Must not be a prior Piper Professor Award recipient.