UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Office of the President has put out a call for nominations for individuals eligible to receive the Faculty Scholar Medal, recognizing scholarly and creative excellence.
The medal will be awarded to individuals in arts and humanities; engineering; entrepreneurship, technology transfer and economic development; life and health sciences; physical sciences; and social and behavioral sciences.
For information on deadlines for submitting nominations and accompanying materials, check with the dean’s office in the individual colleges.
Deans should submit final rankings of the recommendations from their areas by Monday, Dec. 9, to Senior Vice President for Research Lora Weiss at lgw1@psu.edu, 304 Old Main, University Park, PA 16802.
Chancellors from areas outside of University Park should submit recommendations through the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses or the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School, as appropriate, by Monday, Dec. 2, with final submissions due to the vice president for research by Monday, Dec. 9.
The Faculty Scholar Medal, established by Penn State's Board of Trustees in 1980, will be given at the University Awards Program on Friday, April 3, 2020.
Individuals eligible for the Faculty Scholar Medal include faculty members holding full-time academic appointments, with professorial, research (excluding non-continuing research appointees) or librarian titles, as well as individuals who are full-time instructors or assistant librarians.
The achievement for which the faculty member is to be honored should have occurred or culminated during the preceding five years. Special attention should be given to the objective of honoring “a single contribution or a series of contributions around a coherent theme.”
Nomination dossier guidelines
Nomination dossiers should be submitted electronically as PDF files and should include:
- A letter from the dean or director endorsing the candidate, and a letter from the unit head such as the department where applicable.
- The nominee's curriculum vitae.
- A representative sample of the nominee's achievement, such as selected articles, sections of books, a visual arts portfolio, and recording of performances.
- Published review of the key works, where relevant.
- Credible outside evaluations from faculty at peer institutions which substantiate the claim of the national or international importance, and evidence of superior scholarly or creative accomplishments occurring or culminating in the past five years (brief identification notes on the authors of the letters should be furnished).
In cases where submission of a portfolio would be appropriate, please submit one copy to be shared with the members of the selection panel.
Re-nominations from the previous year are acceptable.
A committee of faculty peers will review nominations and select candidates’ names to be sent to University President Eric Barron. Selection panels, one in each of the main scholarly areas, are currently being identified.
For more information, contact Diane Plummer at dlp12@psu.edu or 814-865-6332.