University Wide Faculty and Staff Awards
Distinguished University Professor
Suggested Guidelines for the Selection Committee for the Distinguished University Professor Program
The title of Distinguished University Professor should signify that the recipient is DISTINGUISHED, not merely excellent. Distinction is measured across all three areas of academic responsibility—research and scholarly activity, teaching and service. Ideally, the successful candidate will EXCEL in all three. It is possible, however, that he/she might be extraordinary in only one area, research, for example, if excellence is obvious in the other two.
The successful candidate should have a continual and coherent record of professional performance and be identified with a distinct body of knowledge. In addition, his/her students should excel in the same or a related area. Indicators of significant impact by the candidate’s research and scholarly activity, teaching, and service are essential and, as markers of distinction are often specific to the candidate’s discipline or area of academic pursuit, it might be necessary to consult with persons outside the Selection Committee.
Internal and external recognition are both expected. Internal recognition might include Ohio State’s Distinguished Scholar Award, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, or the Faculty Award for Distinguished University Service. Examples of external recognition might include, but are not limited to:
- widely valued prestigious awards or prizes, e.g., a Guggenheim, Humboldt, Javits, MacArthur, Packard or Sloan Fellowship; National Investigator, National Young Investigator, Career Advancement, or Presidential Faculty Fellow award; continuous funding from a major research agency, e.g., NIH, NSF, NEA, NEH; the principal or major award of a primary professional society;
- major publications, shows, exhibits and the like, as appropriate to the candidate’s discipline; or being the subject of a major critical review;
- professional service that constitutes significant recognition (e.g., president of a primary professional association, chairing a National of Academy of Sciences committee);
- teaching success in terms of Ph.D.s and post-docs who have become successful researchers and scholars in their own right, undergraduates or professionals who attest to the candidate’s influence on their education, or other exemplary pedagogical contributions; and
- honorary degrees.
Serving on review panels for national agencies, chairing committees of professional societies, publishing articles, performing well in the classroom, producing successful Ph.D.s, etc. are certainly signs of distinction, but these alone are not sufficient qualification for a Distinguished University Professorship. The successful nominee should have a record of accomplishment that well exceeds the normal functions of Ohio State faculty.
Nomination materials must present the case clearly for each candidate. Selection committees report that they are aware that some faculty members are more distinguished than their documentation presents; yet, it not the selection committee’s role to “read between the lines” to construct the case.
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