Faculty Senate Professor Award

The Faculty Senate Professor Award was initiated in 1990 to provide the faculty with an opportunity to recognize and honor one of their colleagues for outstanding professional achievement during a significant period of time as a faculty member at Santa Clara University. The award is presented at the annual Faculty Recognition event held in the fall quarter. In addition to the accolades, the winner each year receives a one-course reduction in teaching load and a $2500 stipend.

It was the unanimous opinion of the 2001 Selection Committee that the nomination and selection procedures be modified to allow a three-year window over which nominations would be considered. A significant amount of effort is required to prepare a nomination, and the number of nominations is somewhat uneven from year to year. This would keep a larger pool available for consideration in any one year and would be more fair to the nominees. In addition, it might encourage more nominations since there might be a more perceived return on effort when the nomination is considered over three years.

1. A nominee must be a member of the Faculty Senate. Per the Bylaws, members of the Faculty Senate include:
    

   - All tenured and tenure-track faculty except for administrators at or above the level of dean of college.
   - All faculty with renewable-term or continuing appointments.
   - All other faculty on at least half-time appointments who receive an academic year contract, except visiting faculty.

2. A nominee must have a minimum of fifteen years of full-time service on the faculty at Santa Clara University prior to nomination for the award
3. A nominee must have achieved distinction for teaching, scholarship, and service; for this award, these categories and their relative weights may be more freely interpreted than they are by rank and tenure committees.

1. The recipient will be announced by the President of the University and the President of the Faculty Senate at the Faculty Recognition event.
2. The recipient will be known as the Faculty Senate Professor for the academic year following the award announcement.
3. The recipient will receive a stipend of $2,500 and a one-course reduction in teaching load during the year of the award.
4. The recipient will deliver a talk to her or his colleagues at the next annual Faculty Recognition event on a topic of general interest.

The Faculty Senate President-elect serves as the chair of the committee. The other members of the committee are the previous winners of the award.

At the January 13, 2010 Faculty Senate Council meeting, a motion was passed to change the structure of the Selection Committee; that is, instead of all previous winners as members of the Committee, only the most recent winner available from Arts, Sciences, Business, Engineering, Law, and Education and Counseling Psychology would form the Selection Committee.

Nomination Process:  

To nominate a colleague:

1. Submit a nomination via the Professor Award Nomination Google Form link distributed via email the first Monday in April to the faculty distribution list.
2. In the summary section of the Google Form, provide a thorough description that highlights specific contributions the nominee has made in one or more areas of scholarship, teaching, and/or service. 
3. Upload a PDF (Max file size: 100MB) or provide an online link of your nominee's most recent curriculum vitae via the Google Form link.    

Nominations are typically due the last Monday of April. Nominations are considered for three years. If you have any questions or technical issues with the form, please contact Collaborative Governance Specialist, Ixtlac Dueñas (iduenas@scu.edu).