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Promoting Academic Excellence at UNL

College, Campus & University Awards

Nominations sought for 2009-10 Awards

See the Announcement memo calling for nominations and applications for the 2009-10 Awards.

Academy of Distinguished Teachers

This includes an award of $2,500 annual salary supplement. The Teaching Academy members are recognized and rewarded as educational teachers and professors, and also share in some of the responsibility for enhancing effective teaching processes with colleagues across the campus and the state.


Annis Chaikin Sorensen Award: Distinguished Teaching Award in the Humanities

One $3,000 award presented for outstanding teaching in the humanities.

Nominations will be reviewed and a final selection recommended by the Teaching Council's award subcommittee. Submit requested nominating materials with the attached nomination form. The following are the 2009-2010 nomination information and form: Nomination information; Nomination form in pdf or Word, including a form for courses (Word) (pdf) the instructor has taught. Nominations are due the third Friday in January.



College Distinguished Teaching Awards

Fifteen faculty members will be given distinguished teaching awards upon the recommendation of the colleges. These faculty members will receive a $1,000 cash award through funds provided by the Nebraska Legislature.   See the 2009-10 nomination information.

The distribution among Colleges is as follows:

  • Agriculture: 1
  • Architecture: 1
  • Arts and Sciences: 6
  • Business Administration: 1
  • Engineering and Technology: 2
  • Education and Human Sciences: 3
  • Fine and Performing Arts: 1

Each college should send a letter naming the individuals recommended for the College Distinguished Teaching Awards based on the College's procedures, which should provide for input from a variety of individuals. The nominations are due on the third Friday in January.  See also the 2008-09 winners.



Harold & Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award

One award, the total amount to be $5,000. The award will ordinarily be expended over a two-year period as a $3,000 professional development fund available to support research and educational activities such as travel or equipment purchases, and a $2,000 salary supplement ($1,000 per year). The Harold and Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award will be presented each year to honor an outstanding Junior Faculty Member who has demonstrated creative research, extraordinary teaching abilities, and academic promise. The award should provide a strong incentive for pre-tenure faculty to expand their expertise and enhance learning at UNL. Each recipient will be known as the Harold and Esther Edgerton Assistant or Associate Professor for the two years of the award.

The following pages provide more information about this award including: the Call for Nominations; the Nomination form (also in Word); and a form for courses (Word) (pdf) the instructor has taught. Nominations are due the third Friday in January.



Holling Family Awards for Teaching Excellence in Agriculture and Natural Resources

The annual awards honor outstanding teaching in the university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. For more information about CASNR Awards, see their web page. The 2009 recipients are:

  • Senior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award: John Foster, Paul Hay, Phillip Miller, and Connie Reimers-Hild;
  • Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award: Cheryl Bailey and Cory Reng:
  • Teaching Assistant Teaching Excellence Award: Joana Story and Jeremy Wagnitz.



Kelly Fund Call for Proposals

University of Nebraska Central Administration announced that the 2009-10 Kelly Funds will go to foster research looking to the improvement of teaching in the university.

Grants are generally in the range of $5,000 to $25,000, but funding up to $50,000 is available for a larger project if its scope and value are compelling. The proposals, including a cover sheet and budget sheet, are usually due in January to either Dave Wilson, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, 208 Adms., 0420, or Susan Fritz, Associate Vice Chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture & Natural Resources, 202 AGH, 0708.

Use the form below for the proposals:



Othmer Chairs

In 1998, the University of Nebraska accepted a gift of $136.5 million from the estate of alumna Mildred Topp Othmer. Her late husband, Donald, also an NU alumnus, was a renowned engineering professor who spent the bulk of his career at Polytechnic Institute of New York. Some $12 million of the gift was pledged toward matching funds to create up to 24 new $1 million endowed chairs. Faculty filling these chairs are senior faculty recruited through nationally competitive searches.



Outstanding Research & Creative Activity Award (ORCA)

Two Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Awards are presented each year in honor of outstanding research or creative activity of national/international significance conducted by individual full-time faculty members at the University of Nebraska. The awards are given for a sustained record of excellent accomplishment in research or creative activity, rather than meritorious service. The recipients are honored at an award luncheon in the Spring and each are awarded $3,500 and an award medallion and plaque. Nominations are due to the Office of the NU Provost by Nov. 16, 2009. The winners are usually selected in February.



Outstanding Teaching & Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA)

Two Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Awards are presented each year in honor and recognition of meritorious and sustained records of excellence in teaching and creativity related to teaching to two full-time faculty members of the University of Nebraska. The recipients are honored at an award luncheon in the Spring and each are awarded $3,500 and an award medallion and plaque. Nominations should be sent to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs by Oct. 26, 2009.




Innovation, Development, and Engagement Award (IDEA)

Up to two Innovation, Development, and Engagement Awards shall be presented each year to honor faculty members who have extended their academic expertise beyond the boundaries of the University in ways that have enriched the broader community. Nominations should be sent to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs by Oct. 26, 2009.

University Professorships

List of Professorships from previous years


Call for George Holmes University Professorship

Due to a retirement, a Professorship has become available. The Committee on University Professorships solicits preliminary nominations for candidates for appointment as a George Holmes University Professor. Preliminary nominations were due Oct. 2, 2009. See the announcement memo about this year's professorships.

Named Professorships

Description of the Rosowski, Weaver, Douglas Professorships


Call for Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professorships
Tenured associate professors who have a distinguished record of scholarship or creative activity and who show exceptional promise for the future may be nominated for a new professorship, the Susan J. Rosowski Professorship, for faculty at this rank. For background about this professorship, see the story about it and the Call for Nominations below. The nomination form (below) was due Oct. 2, 2009.


Call for John E. Weaver and Aaron Douglas Professorships in Teaching Excellence
Full professors with at least a 40 percent apportionment in teaching who have developed a sustained record of teaching excellence and national visibility for instructional activities/practice will be eligible for a new professorship, the John E. Weaver and Aaron Douglas Professorships in teaching excellence. For more information, see the call for nominations for these professorships. Nominations were due October 2, 2009.



Call for Willa Cather and Charles Bessey Professorships
Full professors with a record of distinguished scholarship and creative activity are eligible for Willa Cather and Charles Bessey Professorships. Nominations were due Oct. 2, 2009, using the forms below.



University-wide Departmental Teaching Award (UDTA)

One University-wide Departmental Teaching Award is presented each year in honor and recognition of a department/unit within the University of Nebraska that has made a unique and significant contribution to the teaching efforts of the University and which has outstanding esprit de corps in its dedication to the education of students at the undergraduate, graduate, or professional levels. Twenty-five thousand dollars is awarded to the honored department. These funds may be used in whatever manner the department sees fit. Nominations should be sent to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs by Oct. 26, 2009.

Awards