Distinguished University Professorships (not available in 2012)
All of the nominations for faculty awards administered by Rackham are submitted directly through our website. This may require some changes in the way nominators put together the dossiers. Please read through this page before you begin the nomination process.
There will be no competition in 2012 for Distinguished University Professorships.
Note: The availability of Distinguished University Professorships varies from year to year because the distinction is held until retirement. Though nominations may be submitted by deans, directors and department/program heads, the nomination process must be coordinated through the dean’s office of the appropriate school or college following an announcement by the Provost. For more information please contact Pat McCune at (734) 936-1647 or faculty-awards@umich.edu.
The Distinguished University Professorships recognize exceptional scholarly and/or creative achievement, national and international reputation, and superior teaching skills. In creating these positions in 1947, the Board of Regents intended that Distinguished University Professors be given opportunities to pursue scholarly activities in a manner calculated to ensure the greatest contribution to the University and the nation. Each Distinguished University Professorship bears a special name, determined by the appointive professor in consultation with her or his dean. Each professorship also carries with it an annual salary supplement of $5,000 and an annual research supplement of $5,000. The duration of the appointment is unlimited, and the title—without the salary and research supplements—may be retained after retirement. In addition, newly appointed Distinguished University Professors are expected to deliver an inaugural lecture during the first year of appointment.
- General Information
- Guidelines for the Preparation of Nominations
- Past Recipients of Distinguished University Professorships
General Information
Eligibility
Faculty with the rank of full professor may be nominated for these awards. Departments and programs are encouraged to nominate women, minorities and members of other groups historically underrepresented in their disciplines.
Selection Criteria
Nominees must demonstrate extraordinary achievements in the areas of teaching and mentoring, scholarly research and/or creative endeavors, service and other activities which have brought distinction to the University as well as national and international renown.
Number of Awards
The availability of Distinguished University Professorships varies from year to year because the distinction is held until retirement. For more information please contact Pat McCune at (734) 936-1647 or faculty-awards@umich.edu. Each professorship carries with it an annual salary supplement of $5,000 and an annual research stipend of $5,000.
Source of Nominations
Nominations may be submitted by deans, directors and department/program heads. However, the nomination process must be coordinated through the Dean’s office of the appropriate school or college and the nomination dossier must include a letter of nomination from the dean.
Selection Process
2011-12 nominations will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary Selection Advisory Committee comprised of outstanding senior faculty members and chaired by the Dean of the Rackham Graduate School. Upon consultation with this committee, the President and Provost will recommend appointments for consideration by the Board of Regents at its June 2012 meeting. Awards will be presented at a ceremony in October 2012.
Deadline and Submission
The nomination deadline for 2012 Distinguished University Professorships is March 5, 2012, 12PM\noon EST.
For more information contact:
Pat McCune, Ph.D.
Senior Program Manager
915 East Washington Street
1130 Rackham
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1070
Telephone: (734) 936-1647
E-mail: faculty-awards@umich.edu
Guidelines for the Preparation of Nominations
The complete instructions for submitting a nomination for this award, and the FAQ for the general process of submitting nominations online, are available here as well as on the separate nomination website.
Listed below are the eight items that must be included in the dossier before the nomination can be submitted. You will be asked to either enter text into text boxes or online forms, or upload documents in Adobe PDF format.
Before you begin, please read the section about requesting and submitting letters of support below. These letters should not be sent to you but rather submitted directly by the letter writer electronically through a separate website.
A nomination dossier can be set up by a U-M faculty or staff member. Up to six others may be given access to the site by the person who opens the dossier on the website. After a nomination dossier is started the nominator(s) and assistant(s) may login to the faculty awards nomination system as many times as needed in order to complete the nomination.
Contact Information Form
Provide in the online form all the contact information requested for both the nominee and the nominator—not the administrative contact.
Letter of Nomination
You may submit your nomination letter by uploading the document in Adobe PDF format. Or, if you would prefer to use the text box, we recommend that you write your statement in a non-web format (such as a word processing or text editor program), save a copy for your personal records, and then copy and paste the final document into the space provided.
The nomination letter may be no longer than five pages (3,400 words) in length.
The letter of nomination should be prepared by the nominee’s dean, director or department/program head. Note that the nomination process must be coordinated through the Dean’s office of the appropriate school or college and the nomination dossier must include a letter of nomination from the Dean.
Remember that the committee members represent a range of disciplines and may not be familiar with your nominee’s field. Committee members often find the following information helpful as they try to evaluate nominees from very different disciplines.
- An assessment of the depth and breadth of the nominee’s major scholarly or creative accomplishments and an indication of their significance, not only to the U-M department/program, but to the discipline as a whole.
- A sense of the nominee’s scholarly ability, originality, and professional reputation; this might be indicated by reference to significant awards and other honors received by the nominee.
- An evaluation of the nominee’s contributions as a teacher and mentor of students, including: development of new courses or revitalization of existing ones; activities especially indicative of the nominee’s breadth of interest (e.g., interdisciplinary efforts) and depth of knowledge of his/her own and related fields; an appraisal of the nominee’s mentoring and advising skills.
Dean’s Letter
While the letter of nomination for a Distinguished University Professorship is prepared by the nominee’s dean, director or department/program head, the nomination must be coordinated through the dean’s office of the appropriate school or college and the nomination dossier must include a letter of nomination from the dean.
Access to the site may be given to the dean and/or an administrator in order to enter the letter by uploading the document in Adobe PDF format or putting it in the text box.
Letters of Support
Note: Do not have the letters of support sent to you. These letters must be submitted by the writers directly to the nomination dossier through a separate website. Writers will be asked to either enter text into an online forms, or upload documents in Adobe PDF format.
When you contact the letter writer with your request, direct the him/her to https://secure.rackham.umich.edu/Faculty/support/ and provide the writer with the U-M ID of the nominee and name of the award. On this website the writers will find straightforward directions for submitting the letter of support for your nominee.
Once the letters have been sent into the website you will be able to read them in the nomination dossier and then select which letters you actually want to include when you submit the nomination. Only the letters you have selected will be seen by the review committee.
Nominations should include up to eight letters in support of the nominee (additional letters will not be considered). At least three of these letters must be external to the University. These letters may come from faculty members within the nominee’s department or elsewhere in the University; from faculty at other institutions in the U.S. or abroad; and from former students of the nominee.
Each letter of support may be no longer than five pages (3,400 words) in length.
Complete and Current Curriculum Vitae
Include the nominee’s c.v. by uploading the most recent version in Adobe PDF format. (Note: while information about courses taught and dissertation service may be in the c.v., providing that same information by completing the forms below is necessary because it facilitates the review process.)
Courses Form
Complete the online form by providing in the text boxes the following information for all courses, undergraduate and graduate, taught during the past eight terms: course number, course name, approximate number of students enrolled, term and year taught.
If your school/college represents course information in another format you will be able to describe this in a separate text box.
Doctoral Committee Service Form
Complete the online form by providing in the text box the following information for all doctoral committee service in the past ten years: name of student, student’s department/program, year the degree was conferred or is expected, role served by the nominee, and placement information for the student, if available.
Teaching Evaluations (optional)
Please indicate the courses for which you would like us to request your nominee’s evaluation reports from The Office of Evaluations and Examinations. That office will send the summary reports on student evaluations directly to us in a digital file. This file will then be uploaded to the dossier.
If your school/college uses another mode of evaluation please contact us to determine how your nominee’s evaluations can be submitted.
Past Recipients of Distinguished University Professorships
2011
- Richard Janko, Classical Studies
- Gordon Kane, Physics
- Miriam Meisler, Human Genetics, Neurology
- Terry Robinson, Psychology, Neuroscience
2010
- David Halperin, English Language and Literature
- Yoram Koren, Mechanical Engineering
- David Meyer, Psychology
- Fawwaz Ulaby, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
2009
- Jacquelynne S. Eccles, Psychology and Education
- Rodney C. Ewingv, Geological Sciences
- William C. Fulton, Mathematics
- A. Galip Ulsoy, Mechanical Engineering
- John H. Vandermeer, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
2008
- Hyman Bass, Education and Mathematics
- Michael Boehnke, Biostatistics
- Bruce Frier, Classical Studies, Law School
- Linda Gegerson, English Language & Literature
- James S. House, Sociology
2007
- Stephen Darwall, Philosophy
- Jane Dutton, Business Education
- Joyce Penner, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences
- Henry Wright, Anthropology
- Yu Xie, Sociology and Statistics
2006
- Noreen Clark, Public Health
- Nicholas Delbanco, English Language & Literature
- Geoffrey Eley, History
- Lennard Fisk, Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences
- Raoul Kopelman, Chemistry
2005
- Joyce Marcus, Anthropology
- Abigail Stewart, Psychology and Women’s Studies
- Sheldon Danziger, Public Policy
- Philip Bucksbaum, Physics
- C.K. Prahalad, Business Administration
- Sid Gilman, Neurology
- Donald S. Lopez, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies
2004
- Don B. Chaffin, Industrial and Operations Engineering
- Melvin Hochster, Mathematics
- Pallab Bhattacharya, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Gerard M. Faeth, Aerospace Engineering
- Joanne Leonard, Art and Women’s Studies
- Martha Ludwig, Biological Chemistry
- Charles F. Yocum, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
2003
- Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Law and Psychology
- David Ginsburg, Internal Medicine and Human Genetics
- Rebecca J. Scott, History
- Bright Sheng, Music
2002
- Michael Savageau, Microbiology and Immunology
- Lawrence Sklar, Philosophy
- Kensall D. Wise, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
2001
- Patricia Y. Gurin, Psychology and Women’s Studies
- Richard Owen Lempert, Law and Sociology
- Kenneth E. Warner, Public Health
- Karl E. Weick, Organizational Behavior and Psychology
2000
- Richard Crawford, Music
- Homer A. Neal, Physics
1999
- Huda Akil, Neurosciences
- Edward E. Smith, Psychology
- Shirley Verrett, Music
1996
- Gérard A. Mourou, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
1995
- James S. Jackson, Psychology
- Ludwig Koenen, Papyrology
- Vincent Massey, Biological Chemistry
- Rowena G. Matthews, Biological Chemistry
1994
- William E. Bolcom, Music
- Allan F. Gibbard, Philosophy
- Martha Vicinus, English, Women’s Studies and History
- Walter J. Weber, Jr., Environmental Sciences and Engineering
1992
- Yale Kamisar, Lawv
- Richard E. Nisbett, Psychology
- George Shirley, Music
1989
- Richard D. Alexander, Evolutionary Biology
- Robert Axelrod, Political Science and Public Policy
- Frederick C. Neidhardt, Microbiology and Immunology
1987
- Thomas M. Donahue, Planetary Science
- Frederick W. Gehring, Mathematics
1985
- L. Ross Chambers, French and Comparative Literature
- Kent V. Flannery, Anthropological Archaeology
1983
- Minor J. Coon, Biological Chemistry
- Robert B. Zajonc, Social Sciences
1982
- Philip E. Converse, Sociology and Political Science
- Joseph L. Saxv, Law
1978
- Clyde Coombs, Psychology
- Charles Gibson, History
1977
- Leslie Bassett, Music
1972
- John Arthos, English Language & Literature
- H. Richard Crane, Physics
1969
- Gardner Ackley, Economics
- Otis D. Duncan, Sociology
1968
- Jerome W. Conn, Internal Medicine
- John Higham, History
- Chia-Shun Yih, Engineering
1966
- William W. Bishop, Jr., Law
- David M. Dennisonk, Physics
- Donald L. Katz, Chemical Engineering
- Paul W. McCrackenv, Business Administration
- James V. Neel, Human Genetics
1947
- Werner Emmanuel Bachmann, Chemistry
- George Granger Brown, Chemical Engineering
- Thomas Francis, Jr., Epidemiology
- Howard Bishop Lewis, Biological Chemistry
- DeWitt Henry Parker, Philosophy
- William Andrew Paton, Accounting
- Isaiah Leo Sharfman, Economics
- Lewis Mallalieu Simes, Law
- George Eugene Uhlenbeck, Physics