Faculty Awards Explainer: Many Ways To Earn Honors

By Rick Vacek | July 17, 2023

Faculty members at The University of Texas at Dallas are encouraged to strive for awards and fellowships inside and outside the University.

The Provost’s Office sponsors three awards, all of which recognize excellence in mentoring:

• Provost’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring of Faculty (pdf): This was first awarded in 2023. Nominees must be mentors in the program, but anyone may submit a nomination. The winner is chosen by an Academic Senate committee.
• Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring: Acknowledges a faculty mentor who leads, supports and guides the development of UT Dallas undergraduate students and their research endeavors. Winners receive a one-time $5,000 cash award. Anyone may submit a nomination.
• Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Graduate Research Mentoring: Recognizes tenured faculty members who are outstanding research mentors of doctoral students and who foster intellectual, creative, scholarly and professional growth. Winners receive a one-time $5,000 cash award. Nominations may be submitted by deans, department/program heads, promotion or award committees, or faculty members.

Faculty members also are eligible for dozens of other awards handed out by UT Dallas, The University of Texas System and the State of Texas.

Within UTD, the President’s Teaching Excellence Awards include five categories:

• Undergraduate instruction for tenure-system faculty members
• Undergraduate instruction for non-tenure-system faculty members
• Teaching assistants
• Graduate/professional instruction
• Online/blended instruction

The UT System features the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards and the UT Academy of Distinguished Teachers. The Texas Piper Professor award, established in 1958, recognizes outstanding college professors across the state.

The award opportunities don’t stop there. The Faculty Awards Search Tool (FAST) on the Provost website features awards and fellowships from around the world, with descriptions and other pertinent information.

Unlike the internal UTD and UT System awards, faculty members – or their colleagues on their behalf – must apply for the external honors, and the FAST tool provides links to all of them.