The University of Nebraska-Lincoln values the hard work of faculty and recognizes the role of honorific awards in building excellence and impact across a wide range of teaching, research, and outreach activities. An important component of faculty careers, external awards amplify the visibility and recognition of scholarly activity, increase networking and collaboration opportunities, and enhance the national profile of our departments, colleges, and the entire university. Building institutional stature in this way also helps to attract and retain new talent in both faculty and students.
Barriers to the Pursuit of External Awards
A variety of barriers inhibit faculty from pursuing awards, such as faculty humility or concerns about competition, lack of knowledge about the existence of awards or how to apply, learning to navigate the process and needed patience when not successful the first time, not keeping society and association memberships current, and legitimate time concerns and restraints for both faculty and administration.
Pursuing and Increasing External Honorific Awards and Recognitions
To overcome these barriers and facilitate a more strategic and targeted pursuit of external awards and recognition within their departments and units, DEOs can:
- Establish a climate and culture supportive of awards at the department level — make both giving and receiving nominations a priority and demonstrate strong interest from leadership.
- Mentor faculty to position themselves for awards:
- Ensure that faculty understand the importance of awards to their career, department, college, and university.
- Create an awards plan for target faculty.
- Help facilitate faculty membership in professional associations and societies.
- Help faculty understand the importance of and create external networks that help them be in a strong nomination position.
- Routinely identify nominees so that important awards have a rolling list for the future of two to three possible nominees.
- Proactively seek a diverse nominee pool. Visit research.umich.edu/peer-review-bias for some strategies compiled by the University of Michigan to reduce bias in award nominations.
- Address awards during evaluations and explicitly include awards in promotion and tenure considerations.
- Celebrate awards earned and utilize department, college, and university media to provide meaningful recognition of award winners.
- Develop an Awards Committee for your department to help facilitate this activity. Departments with active committees tend to receive more awards than those that do not have a committee.
- Leverage university resources available, including the External Recognition and Awards Coordinator, to help support the pursuit of external awards.
Support for External Recognition and Award Nomination
The External Recognition and Awards Coordinator within the Office of Research and Innovation is a campus-wide resource to help DEOs and faculty pursue and earn external recognition for their research and creative activity. The position provides consultation and professional support for creating award strategies and preparing and submitting external award nominations including:
- Identifying and distributing award opportunities that align with faculty expertise and qualifications.
- Reviewing program guidelines and eligibility.
- Providing support during the nomination process.
- Serving as a sponsor and reference liaison.
- Drafting and editing nomination materials.
- Monitoring progress toward deadlines.
- Developing strategies for building individual or departmental pipeline toward higher level recognition.
- Tracking external awards earned.
- Promoting recognition after an award is won.
Visit research.unl.edu/facultyawards for additional resources or contact Petrina Suiter, External Recognition and Awards Coordinator, at Petrina.Suiter@unl.edu or 402-472-1185.
Internal Award Opportunities
UNL and the University of Nebraska system both sponsor annual awards for faculty.
- Faculty and staff awards, recognizing those who advance the missions of the university in teaching, research and service, coordinated by the Executive Vice Chancellor’s Office
- University and named professorships, some of the highest forms of recognition provided by the university, coordinated by the Executive Vice Chancellor’s Office
- President’s Excellence Awards, recognizing individual faculty members and academic/administrative units whose work has had a significant impact on students, the university, and the state, coordinated by the University of Nebraska system