Henry Russel Lectureship

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 site before you begin the nomination process.

Considered one of the University’s highest honors for a senior member of its active faculty, the Henry Russel Lectureship is awarded annually in recognition of a scholar’s exceptional achievements in research, scholarship and/or creative endeavors, and an outstanding record of teaching, mentoring, and service. Active members of the faculty in any discipline who hold the rank of professor may be nominated for the Lectureship.

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General Information

Eligibility

Senior faculty with the rank of professor may be nominated for the Henry Russel Lectureship. Nominees must be active members of the faculty both at the time of nomination and at the time of delivering the Russel Lecture. Departments nominating faculty who are close to retirement may wish to consider Distinguished Faculty Achievement Awards as an alternative way of seeking recognition for the faculty member’s achievements and contributions. Departments and programs are encouraged to nominate women, minorities, and members of other groups historically underrepresented in their disciplines.

Selection Criteria

Considered one of the University’s highest honors for a senior member of its active faculty, the Henry Russel Lectureship is awarded annually in recognition of exceptional achievements in research, scholarship and creative endeavors, and outstanding records in teaching, mentoring and service.

Number of Awards

One award of $2,000 will be made annually. In addition, the recipient is expected to deliver the Henry Russel Lecture.

Source of Nominations

Nominations may originate from deans, directors and department/program heads, and from executive, promotion or award committees. Nominations by individual members of the faculty especially are encouraged. All nominations should be coordinated through the appropriate academic unit (e.g., dean’s, departmental or program office).

Selection Process

Nominations are reviewed by a selection committee comprised of distinguished senior faculty from a range of schools and colleges. Awardees are selected by the Dean of Rackham Graduate School based upon the recommendations of this committee. The committee will meet in April 2012 and the results of the competition announced shortly thereafter. The formal presentation of the award will take place when the recipient of the Lectureship delivers his/her Henry Russel Lecture in March 2012.

Deadline and Submission

The nomination deadline for 2012 Henry Russel Lectureship is March 26, 2012, 12PM/noon EDT.

For more information contact:

Pat McCune, Ph.D.
Senior Program Manager
915 East Washington Street
1130 Rackham
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1070
Telephone: 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 particular focus of the Henry Russel Lectureship is on outstanding achievements in research (broadly construed to include scholarship and/or creative endeavors in all disciplines of the University), in addition to teaching, mentoring, and service.

The letter of nomination should be prepared by the nominee’s department/program chair or designate, or by a senior member of the faculty who knows the nominee’s work well. If the nomination is being submitted by a department or program other than the one in which the nominee has his/her major appointment, the head of that department should also sign the letter.

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:

  • A description of the nominee’s major scholarly and/or creative achievements throughout his/her career and an indication of their overall significance to the discipline.
  • A comprehensive assessment of the nominee’s scholarly and/or creative ability and professional reputation, including a sense of how the nominee might rank nationally and, where appropriate, internationally among leaders in the discipline.
  • Evidence of the nominee’s contributions in the areas of teaching, mentoring and service.
  • Evidence of wider recognition by professional societies, national academies, and the like.

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 form, 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). These letters may come from faculty members within the nominee’s department or program or from 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.

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Recipients of the Henry Russel Lectureship

2012

  • Rebecca J. Scott, History/Law

2011

  • Richard Janko, Classical Studies

2010

  • Richard Nisbett, Psychology

2009

  • Lennard Fisk, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences

2008

  • Kent V. Flannery, Anthropology

2007

  • Kensall Wise, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

2006

  • Huda Akil, Psychiatry

2005

  • William Fulton, Mathematics

2004

  • Maris Vinovskis, History/Public Policy

2003

  • Rowena G. Matthews, Biological Chemistry/Biophysics

2002

  • Gerard Mourou, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

2001

  • Sid Gilman, Neurology

2000

  • Abigail Stewart, Psychology/Women’s Studies

1999

  • Jack E. Dixon, Biological Chemistry

1998

  • David E. Kuhl, Internal Medicine/Radiology

1997

  • William E. Bolcom, Music Composition

1996

  • Ludwig Koenen, Papyrology/Classical Studies

1995

  • Vincent Massey, Biological Chemistry

1994

  • Elizabeth M. Douvan, Psychology/Women’s Studies

1993

  • John H. Holland, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science/Psychology

1992

  • Robert Axelrod, Political Science/Public Policy

1991

  • Minor J. Coon, Biological Chemistry

1990

  • Frederick W. Gehring, Mathematics

1989

  • Richard D. Alexander, Evolutionary Biology

1988

  • Bernard W. Agranoff, Neurosciences/Biological Chemistry

1987

  • Philip E. Converse, Sociology/Political Science

1986

  • Thomas M. Donahue, Atmospheric, Oceanic & Space Science

1985

  • Sidney Fine, History

1984

  • Leslie R. Bassett, Music Composition

1983

  • Stefan S. Fajans, Internal Medicine

1982

  • Emmett R. Leith, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

1981

  • Leslie Kish, Sociology/Institute for Social Research

1980

  • Halvor N. Christensen, Biological Chemistry

1979

  • Francis A. Allen, Law

1978

  • Arthur W. Burks, Philosophy/Computer & Communication Sciences

1977

  • Charles Gibson, History

1976

  • Lamberto Cesari, Mathematics

1975

  • George Kish, Geography

1974

  • Chia-Sun Yih, Mechanical Engineering

1973

  • George E. Mendenhall, Near Eastern Studies

1972

  • James B. Griffin, Anthropology

1971

  • Paul G. Kauper, Law

1970

  • John Arthos, English Language & Literature

1969

  • Arnold M. Kuethe, Aerospace Engineering

1968

  • Horace R. Crane, Physics

1967

  • Maurice H. Seevers, Pharmacology

1966

  • James V. Neel, Human Genetics

1965

  • Harold E. Wethey, History of Art

1964

  • William Randolph Taylor, Botany

1963

  • Irving A. Leonard, History

1962

  • Herbert C. Youtie, Classical Studies

1961

  • Jerome W. Conn, Medicine

1960

  • Frederick F. Blicke, Chemistry

1959

  • Raymond L. Wilder, Mathematics

1958

  • Verner W. Crane, History

1957

  • Louis I. Bredvold, English Language & Literature

1956

  • George E. Uhlenbeck, Physics

1955

  • George Granger Brown, Engineering

1954

  • Thomas Francis, Jr., Epidemiology

1953

  • Robert Gesell, Physiology

1952

  • David M. Dennison, Physics

1951

  • Aaron Franklin Shull, Zoology

1950

  • Arthur Edward R. Boak, History

1949

  • Howard Bishop Lewis, Biological Chemistry

1948

  • Hobart Hurd Willard, Chemistry

1947

  • DeWitt Henry Parker, Philosophy

1946

  • Elizabeth C. Crosby, Anatomy

1945

  • Edward Henry Kraus, Mineralogy

1944

  • John Alexander, Surgery

1943

  • Isaiah Leo Sharfman, Economics

1942

  • William H. Worrell, Near Eastern Studies

1941

  • Harrison M. Randall, Physics

1940

  • Frank Norman Wilson, Medicine

1939

  • Campbell Bonner, Greek

1938

  • Heber Doust Curtis, Astronomy

1937

  • Charles Wallace Edmunds, Materia Medica

1936

  • John Garrett Winter, Latin

1935

  • Gotthelf Carl Huber, Anatomy

1934

  • Ermine Cowles Case, Geology

1933

  • Walter B. Pillsbury, Psychology

1932

  • Jesse Siddall Reeves, Political Science

1931

  • William Herbert Hobbs, Geology

1930

  • Claude H. Van Tyne, History

1929

  • Alfred Scott Warthin, Pathology

1928

  • Henry Arthur Sanders, Latin

1927

  • Frederick George Novy, Bacteriology

1926

  • Moses Gomberg, Chemistry