Board of Regents Awards

Award Description

Awards are granted in five categories:

  • Teaching
  • Scholarship, research, or creative activity
  • Public service to state, nation or humanity in general
  • Mentoring of students
  • Innovation (formerly Effectiveness and Efficiency)

Each recipient of an award receives a plaque and $2,000. Each member of a collaboration that receives an award receives a plaque and a portion of the $2,000 amount (presented to and divided equally among USM collaborators only).

Qualifications

Faculty Nominee Eligibility

The nominee must meet all of the following criteria:

  • The faculty member being nominated must be currently employed by a USM institution as a tenured, tenure-track, or non-tenure track faculty member.
  • The nominee must have been a USM faculty member for at least five years.
  • The faculty member must have been employed by a USM institution while making the outstanding contributions on which the nomination is based.
  • The period of performance to be considered will be the three-year period ending on June 30 of the year in which the nomination is made for Teaching; Scholarship, Research, or Creative Activity; and Public Service. Reference to work in previous years may be made to show continuous achievement in the academic field. The nomination packet for a Mentoring award may include more than three years of mentoring.
  • Faculty who have won a Regents’ Faculty Award within the past three years are not eligible for the same award.

The nominee's accomplishments must be characterized by the following:

  • The faculty member should have fulfilled ordinary obligations as indicated in the institution's workload policy and as agreed upon by the department/unit. Accomplishments for which he or she is nominated must clearly exceed ordinary expectations.
  • Achievements should be continuous in an academic field. Peers and/or the broader public must recognize the outstanding nature of the contributions.

Paid consultancies are excluded from award consideration.

Nomination Process: by September 28

Application Process

Create a nomination record for the nominee, using the online form. The nomination record can be created at any time before September 28. Next, submit the following Preliminary Nomination packet, combined into a single, searchable PDF, by September 28 through the APA website:

  • A summary resume,
  • A one page essay from the nominee describing how he or she has contributed to ecellence in the category of the nomination,
  • A letter of nomination from the department chairperson or dean

Nomination Process: by October 19

Application Process

Submit the following Final Nomination packet, combined into a single, searchable PDF, by October 19 through the APA website:

  • A minimum of two and maximum of five letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation may be from persons at the nominee's institution or at other institutions.
  • Update documentation of exemplary achievement:
  • Additional documentation of exemplary achievement*
    • Teaching Nominations - Documentation must include persuasive evidence of excellent teaching including, but not limited to, peer evaluations, a summary of student evaluations, and teaching portfolios;
    • Scholarship, Research, or Creative Activity Nominations - Of the aforementioned maximum of five letters of recommendation, no more than three should be from qualified individuals external to the nominee's institution. These external recommendations should demonstrate evidence of exceptional scholarship, research, or creative activity that extends or deepens the bounds of knowledge and/or are recognized as innovations in the nominee’s discipline;
    • Public Service Nominations - Of the aforementioned maximum of five letters of recommendation, no more than three should be from qualified individuals external to the nominee's institution. These external recommendations should demonstrate contributions to the community through involvement in initiatives such as P-20 programs, clinical practice, professional or non-profit organizations, and public policy. Other demonstrations of these qualities in letter form should be clearly labeled as supporting documents not letters of recommendation;
    • Mentoring Nominations - Supporting evidence should document the value of the mentoring. Testimony of current students and graduates is encouraged;
    • Innovation Nominations - Evidence and brief description of the innovative academic or administrative initiative, its potential benefits, magnitude, and estimated costs and/or resources savings of $10,000 or more;

Note that altogether the package in parts 1-2 must not exceed 18 pages. Contact the Office of Faculty Affairs (faculty@umd.edu) regarding submission procedures at x56803.