Honors & Awards

For previous recipients, please see www.unomaha.edu/facconnect/honors.php

Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award

The Excellence in Teaching Award at the University of Nebraska at Omaha was established in 1969 to recognize superior efforts, dedication and exemplary conduct in the performance of the University's first task—the education of its students. Nominated faculty must have been employed by UNO for a minimum of three years. (2008 Excellence in Teaching Information and Timeline )

Outstanding Graduate Mentor

The mentoring award, presented by the UNO Office of Graduate Studies, was created to recognize individual faculty who place a high value on and excel in mentoring graduate students. It is accompanied by a cash award of $1,500. Nominees must be tenured members of the graduate faculty currently teaching at UNO who have:

  • Been active in graduate education for a significant period of time and established a record of excellence in mentoring graduate students,
  • Demonstrated success in socializing students in their chosen profession,
  • Demonstrated the ability to place students, and
  • Had his or her students perform well professionally after graduation.

This $1500 award recognizes individual faculty who place a high value on and excel in mentoring graduate students. (Click here to view criteria.)

Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award

These awards were established in 1997 to honor distinguished teaching in the classroom and are presented to eight faculty members. Committees of peers in each college chose award recipients, each of whom receives a $1,000 award. The awards and certificates will be announced during the Faculty Honors and Awards Convocation Breakfast. Honorees are also presented with commemorative plaques during the UNO Alumni Association’s Founder’s Day Luncheon. (Click here for specific criteria.)

Distinguished Research or Creative Activity Award

The Distinguished Research or Creative Activity Award recognizes and honors preeminent achievement in research or creative activity by a faculty member at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

This recognized work should

  • be of sufficient originality and distinction to merit attention at the national level or beyond;
  • foster and enhance the quality of research and creative activity at the University; should to reaffirm the values of discovery, innovation, and fulfillment in scholarship and the arts; and
  • make manifest to the public the University's commitment to and support of such accomplishment.

Any member of the Graduate Faculty whose primary home department is at UNO is eligible for the Award(s) for Distinguished Research or Creative Activity. An individual who has previously received the Award may become eligible again after five years on the basis of research or creative activity not used to support the previous award. Current members of the Selection Committee are not eligible. "Creative activity" includes not only those areas involving purely "original activities" but also the performing arts as well. (Click here for specific criteria.)

Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Activity Award

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. Both awards may be made to the same campus in a given year.

The recipients are honored at an award luncheon in the Spring and each are awarded $3,500 and an award medallion and plaque. Eligibility faculty members who have served full-time at the university for at least five years are eligible. Nominees are eligible for three consecutive years and must be resubmitted by the campus each year. At the end of three years, a one-year waiting period is required before a nominee is eligible to be nominated again. Each resubmission should be accompanied by one new letter of support. Self-nominations are acceptable.

An individual who has received the award will be known as a Distinguished Teacher Ad Perpetuum and is not eligible for renomination for the award. (Click here for specific criteria.)

Named Professorships

Faculty members who have been awarded named professorships over the last year are recognized at the Faculty Honors Convocation. Professorship and chair selection are coordinated by the Office of Academic and Student Affairs. For more information, please contact Deborah Smith-Howell at 554-2262 or dsmith-howell@mail.unomaha.edu. (Click here for specific criteria.)

Faculty Service-Learning Award

The Faculty Service-Learning Award recognizes a faculty member, either full- or part-time, who has experience with a service-learning course, who has been supportive of service-learning at UNO (through faculty-student presentations, teaching circles, mentoring faculty-students, and so on), and who has a thorough understanding and appreciation of community agency issues (i.e., professionalism and cultural competency). This award is coordinated by the Service Learning Academy. For more information, please contact Paul Sather at 554-3196 or psather@mail.unomaha.edu