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Annual faculty awards

Each academic department is invited to nominate members of the faculty who, in the judgment of the department, merit recognition in the category named in the award. Internal nomination procedures for all of the awards are to be determined by the individual departments.

Eligibility

All full-time faculty members (tenure-track, tenured or collateral) at any rank (instructor, assistant professor, associate professor or professor) in the College are eligible for the awards detailed below, with the exception of the Humanities and Sciences Distinguished Adjunct Award, which honors outstanding members of the adjunct faculty.

Selection

Selection of winners is made by a committee appointed by the dean with recommendations from the Faculty Council. The committee will select recipients only if a candidate befitting the award’s purpose is nominated; alternatively, it is possible that more than one faculty member may be honored in the same year. Each academic unit should nominate at least one faculty member each year.

Nominations

For all nominations, please supply the following:

  • A letter of nomination — not to exceed three pages — delineating the nominee’s merits in terms of the particular award for which he or she is a candidate.
  • The candidate’s curriculum vitae.
  • A statement of the faculty candidate’s willingness to be nominated.

Nominations must be received to the Office of the Dean by March 1.

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  • The Elske V.P. Smith Distinguished Lecturer Award +

    The purpose of this award is to recognize an outstanding professor in the College. The recipient of the award will present a College-wide lecture of a sufficiently general nature to appeal to the public at large and his or her name will be added to a plaque after the presentation. The additional purpose of the award is to highlight the efforts of the College within, as well as outside the university.

    Recipients

    • 2008 – John Accordino, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
    • 2007 – Laura Browder, associate professor, Department of English
    • 2006 – McKenna Brown, professor of Spanish and director, School of World Studies

  • The Humanities and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award +

    The purpose of this award is to honor an outstanding contribution to the craft of teaching by a faculty member in the College. The award is for teaching-related activity and may be given either for specific initiatives that demonstrate significant innovativeness or creativity in teaching or for more general excellence in professing one’s discipline, as evidenced by an unusual ability to engage students and stimulate learning, personal investment and commitment, and an ongoing effort to improve teaching. In either case, there must be evidence of a demonstrable effect on the student learning experience.

    Recipients

    • 2008 – Sachi Shimomura, Department of English
    • 2007 – Constantin (Coz) Cotzias, associate professor, VCU Brandcenter
    • 2006 – Faye Belgrave, professor of psychology

  • The Humanities and Sciences Distinguished Scholar Award +

    The purpose of this award is to honor an outstanding contribution by a faculty member to academic scholarship. The award is given for a product of scholarship that demonstrates significant depth and breadth of vision; creative and innovative development of theory, method or form; or extension of the frontiers of knowledge in a field that constitutes a substantial contribution to the intellectual community within or beyond the nominee’s field.

    Recipients

    • 2008 – Shiv Khanna, Department of Physics
    • 2007 – Everett Worthington, professor, Department of Psychology
    • 2006 – James P. McCullough Jr., professor of psychology

  • The Humanities and Sciences Distinguished Service Award +

    The purpose of this award is to honor an outstanding contribution to service by a faculty member in the College. The award is given for superior service to the College, the university, the profession and/or the wider community. This superior service may be marked by activities that extend beyond normal expectations, make unique contributions and/or provide longstanding leadership and have a significant impact on the College or beyond.

    Recipients

    • 2008 – Gay Cutchin, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
    • 2007 – June Nicholson, School of Mass Communications
    • 2006 – Kathryn Murphy-Judy, associate professor of French, School of World Studies

  • The Humanities and Sciences Distinguished Advising Award +

    The purpose of this award is to honor individuals who make significant contributions to student advising. The award recognizes effective advising qualities and practices that distinguish the recipient as an outstanding advisor. Faculty advisors and professional advisors of the College are eligible for the distinguished advising award.

    Recipients

    • 2008 – Margaret Altonen, Department of English
    • 2007 – John Mahoney, associate professor of sociology, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
    • 2006 – Mark Wood, associate professor of religious studies, School of World Studies

  • The Humanities and Sciences Excellence in Scholarship Award +

    The purpose of this award is to honor outstanding contributions to academic scholarship by faculty at the assistant or associate level who have produced remarkable work but do not yet have the quantity and full range of scholarship we associate with their more senior colleagues. The award is given for products of scholarship that demonstrate significant depth and breadth of vision; creative and innovative development of theory, method or form; or extension of the frontiers of knowledge in a field that constitutes a substantial contribution to the intellectual community within or beyond the nominees’ fields.

    Recipients

    • 2008 – Yan Jin, School of Mass Communications
    • 2007 – Julio Alverez, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry; Wendy Kliewer, associate professor, Department of Psychology
    • 2006 – Bernard Moitt, associate professor of history; Tracy Ryan, associate professor of mass communications

  • The Humanities and Sciences Distinguished Adjunct Award +

    The purpose of this award is to recognize an outstanding member of the adjunct faculty from each division of the College who best represents the contribution of adjunct faculty to the mission of the College. All persons who have taught on adjunct contracts during the current academic year are eligible. There are three separate adjunct awards corresponding to the divisions within the College — social sciences, natural and mathematical sciences, and the humanities.

    Recipients

    • 2008 – Kimberly Chen, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
    • 2007 – Cinzia Corubolo
    • 2006 – Ursula Marfurt-Levy, adjunct instructor of French, School of World Studies; Joan Barnes, adjunct instructor of statistical science