Skip Navigation

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Promoting Academic Excellence at UNL

UNL and NU Awards and Honors

Academy of Distinguished Teachers

An award of an annual $2,500 salary supplement. The Teaching Academy members are recognized and rewarded as educational teachers and professors, and also share in some of the responsibility for enhancing effective teaching processes with colleagues across the campus and the state.

Annis Chaikin Sorensen Award: Distinguished Teaching Award in the Humanities

One $3,000 award presented for outstanding teaching in the humanities.

Nominations will be reviewed and a final selection recommended by the Teaching Council's award subcommittee. Submit requested nominating materials with the attached nomination form.


College Distinguished Teaching Awards

Fifteen faculty members will be given distinguished teaching awards upon the recommendation of the colleges. These faculty members will receive a $1,000 cash award through funds provided by the Nebraska Legislature.

The distribution among Colleges is as follows:

  • Agriculture: 1
  • Architecture: 1
  • Arts and Sciences: 6
  • Business Administration: 1
  • Engineering and Technology: 2
  • Education and Human Sciences: 3
  • Fine and Performing Arts: 1

Each college should send a letter naming the individuals recommended for the College Distinguished Teaching Awards based on the College's procedures, which should provide for input from a variety of individuals.


Harold & Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award

One award, the total amount to be $5,000. The award will ordinarily be expended over a two-year period as a $3,000 professional development fund available to support research and educational activities such as travel or equipment purchases, and a $2,000 salary supplement ($1,000 per year). The Harold and Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award will be presented each year to honor an outstanding Junior Faculty Member who has demonstrated creative research, extraordinary teaching abilities, and academic promise. The award should provide a strong incentive for pre-tenure faculty to expand their expertise and enhance learning at UNL. Each recipient will be known as the Harold and Esther Edgerton Assistant or Associate Professor for the two years of the award.


Kelly Fund Call for Proposals

University of Nebraska Central Administration has announced that this year’s Kelly Funds will go to research proposals looking to improve teaching by emphasizing interdisciplinary, intercampus, or international approaches in subject matter or audience.

Grants are generally in the range of $5,000 to $25,000, but funding up to $50,000 is available for a larger project if its scope and value are compelling. The proposals from UNL are due January 21, 2009 to either Dave Wilson, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, 208 Adms., 0420, or Susan Fritz, Associate Vice Chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture & Natural Resources, 202 AGH, 0708.



Othmer Chairs


Outstanding Research & Creative Activity Award (ORCA)

Two Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Awards are presented each year in honor of outstanding research or creative activity of national/international significance conducted by individual full-time faculty members at the University of Nebraska. The awards are given for a sustained record of excellent accomplishment in research or creative activity, rather than meritorious service. The recipients are honored at an award luncheon in the Spring and each are awarded $3,500 and an award medallion and plaque.

Nominations are due to the Office of the Provost on Nov. 14, 2008. The winners will be selected in February 2009.


Outstanding Teaching & Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA)

Two Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Awards are presented each year in honor and recognition of meritorious and sustained records of excellence in teaching and creativity related to teaching to two full-time faculty members of the University of Nebraska. The recipients are honored at an award luncheon in the Spring and each are awarded $3,500 and an award medallion and plaque. Nominations were due to the Chancellor's Office on Oct. 24, 2008.


Innovation, Development, and Engagement Award (IDEA)

Up to two Innovation, Development, and Engagement Awards shall be presented each year to honor faculty members who have extended their academic expertise beyond the boundaries of the University in ways that have enriched the broader community. Nominations were due to the Chancellor's Office on Oct. 24, 2008.


University Professorships

List of Professorships from previous years

Call for Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professorships
Tenured associate professors who have a distinguished record of scholarship or creative activity and who show exceptional promise for the future may be nominated for a new professorship, the Susan J. Rosowski Professorship, for faculty at this rank. For more information, see the announcement. Nominations are due Jan. 16, 2009.

Call for John E. Weaver and Aaron Douglas Professorships in Teaching Excellence
Full professors with at least a 40 percent apportionment in teaching who have developed a sustained record of teaching excellence and national visibility for instructional activities/practice will be eligible for a new professorship, the John E. Weaver and Aaron Douglas Professorships in teaching excellence. For more information, see the announcement about these professorships. Nominations are due Jan. 16, 2009.


Willa Cather and Charles Bessey Professorships
Full professors with a record of distinguished scholarship and creative activity are eligible for Willa Cather and Charles Bessey Professorships. Nominations are due Jan. 16, 2009.


University-wide Departmental Teaching Award (UDTA)

One University-wide Departmental Teaching Award is presented each year in honor and recognition of a department/unit within the University of Nebraska that has made a unique and significant contribution to the teaching efforts of the University and which has outstanding esprit de corps in its dedication to the education of students at the undergraduate, graduate, or professional levels. Twenty-five thousand dollars is awarded to the honored department. These funds may be used in whatever manner the department sees fit. Nominations were due to the Chancellor's Office on Oct. 24, 2008.

UNL and NU Awards