Dear Colleagues, The University Committee on Sabbaticals, Fellowships, and Faculty Awards is very pleased to solicit nominations for our annual faculty awards.
(1) Grellet C. Simpson Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching
(2) Graduate Faculty Award
(3) Alumni Association Outstanding Young Faculty Award
(4) J. Christopher “Topher” Bill Service Award
(5) Waple Faculty Professional Achievement Award
(6) Board Of Visitors Faculty Leadership Award
We hope you will take the time to prepare and submit a nomination. The Committee received strong slates of nominees last year and we are hopeful of again receiving as many nominations as possible.
Last year’s awardees were:
• Maya Mathur, Professor of English (Grellet C. Simpson Award)
• Varun Makhija, Assistant Professor of Physics (Outstanding Young Faculty Award)
• Marcel Rotter, Assoicate Professor of German (J. Christopher “Topher” Bill Service Award)
• Chris Foss, Professor of English (Waple Faculty Professional Achievement Award)
• Kelli Slunt, Professor of Chemistry (Board of Visitors Faculty Leadership Award)
A list of past recipients of these awards can be found here. Please note that the Mary W. Pinschmidt Award is determined by the Senior Class and our committee will not accept nominations for the Pinschmidt award.
Award Descriptions
The Grellet C. Simpson Award is awarded to a faculty member for outstanding undergraduate teaching. All full-time continuing faculty are eligible for this award.
The Graduate Faculty Award is awarded to a faculty member teaching at the graduate level who has distinguished themselves as members of a graduate program at the University. All full-time continuing faculty are eligible to be nominated for this award.
The Outstanding Young Faculty Award is presented to a full-time faculty member who has between two and five years of full-time teaching service at UMW. Someone who is in their fifth year is eligible; someone who has already completed five years of service is not. Please make sure the individual you are nominating in this category is eligible. See the list of persons eligible for the young faculty award below.
The Topher Bill Award recognizes outstanding faculty service. Nominees must have served a minimum of seven years as a member of the Mary Washington teaching faculty and must have been significantly and consistently involved in a variety of service roles through department, college, university, and/or community service activities.
The Waple Faculty Professional Achievement Award is based on the significance/impact of the faculty nominee’s scholarly, creative, and/or professional achievement(s). All full-time, continuing faculty with at least seven years employment at UMW are eligible. Achievement(s) must have been undertaken during the nominee’s years at UMW.
The UMW Board of Visitors Faculty Leadership Award recognizes and supports faculty who exhibit exemplary leadership in advancing the mission and priorities of the institution. Any full-time faculty member of any rank who has demonstrated excellence through teaching, research, and scholarship is eligible.
Please see the Provost’s announcement for more information.
Nomination Process
Nominations are welcome from any member of the University community, and letters may be written by single or multiple individuals. Nominations from students are always welcome, so please consider relaying this message to students within your major through an appropriate channel. Nominations must include the following materials:
A. a letter to the Provost’s office, indicating the specific reasons for the nomination.
B. a copy of the candidate’s Curriculum vitae. If the nominator does not have access to the nominee’s C.V., the Provost’s office will provide the most recent version on file.
In addition, supplemental materials supporting the nomination, such as additional letters of support, samples of teaching materials, or other professional artifacts, may be included. All nomination materials (nomination letter and any supplemental documents), excluding the candidate’s CV, must not exceed 10 pages and must be submitted electronically as a PDF file.
Send all nominations to Amy O’Reilly (aoreilly@umw.edu). The deadlines for the receipt of nominations are:
• Monday, March 13, 2023 for the Board of Visitors Faculty Leadership Award
• Monday, March 27, 2023 for all other awards
If you nominated someone during the past three years for one of these awards and they were not recognized, you may reactivate the prior nomination by sending an email to Amy O’Reilly (aoreilly@umw.edu) stating that you wish for the person to be considered again for the same award. All of the nomination materials previously submitted for that nominee, along with the most recent C.V. on file, will be used as the basis for considering this individual again, provided these materials do not exceed 10 pages (excluding the candidate’s CV) or have been revised to meet this requirement.
Selection Process
The University Committee on Sabbaticals, Fellowships, and Faculty Awards (SFFA) will review all nominations and select the awardees. Members of this committee are:
Josephine Antwi, Department of Biology (Secretary)
Wei Chen, College of Business
Ben LaBreche, Department of English and Linguistics
Marco Millones Mayer, Department of Geography
Kyle Schultz, College of Education (Chair)
Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter. Please let us know if you have any questions. Once again, the deadlines for nominations is Monday, March 13, 2023 for the Board of Visitors Faculty Leadership Award and Monday March 27, 2023 for all other awards. All nominations must be submitted electronically to Amy O’Reilly (aoreilly@umw.edu). We look forward to receiving your nominations on behalf of your outstanding colleagues!
Sincerely,
Josephine, Wei, Ben, Marco, and Kyle
List of faculty members eligible for the 2022-2023 Alumni Association Young Faculty Award
Swati Agrawal BIOL
Ray Levy ENLI
Justin Anderson AHPE
Varun Makhija CHPH
Josephine Antwi BIOL
Melissa Martinez PSCI
Ruth Arriazza NURS
Ginny Morriss BIOL
Bridget Brew SOAN
Erin Palmwood PSYC
Mary Jane Bowles NURS
Veena Ravishankar CPSC
Prashant Chandrasekar CPSC
Michael Reno CLPR
Emily Crosby CMDS
Alexis Rutt COE
Bridgette Dennett THEA
Christopher Ryder MUSC
Samira Fallah COB
Kelly Swiney AHPE
Tyler Frankel EESC
Madeline Taghon AHPE
Brittany Garvin-Hudson COE
Jamie Tierney AHPE
Scott Gerseny AHPE
Desmond Villalba CHPH
Adria Goldman CMDS
Robert Wells MUSC
Kevin Good COE
Marc Williams THEA
Alexander Hinsey AHPE
Dan Wolfe COB
Melissa Jenkins COE
Xin-Wen Wu CPSC
Marcus Leppanen PSYC
Kelly Yoon COB
