UAB is rolling out a novel ongoing faculty awards program that will recognize faculty recipients for the impact they are having or will have on an academic field or quality of life.
Calls for nominations for the new UAB Exceptional Innovation Awards will be announced several times a year; the first deadline is Friday, April 1. Winners will be recognized with an honorarium of $1,000 per innovation and a presidential reception.
“These awards seek to identify superlative projects, ideas or accomplishments contributed by UAB faculty that merit special attention,” said Richard Marchase, UAB Vice President for Research and Economic Development, whose office will oversee the new program. “They could include but, of course, not be not limited to outstanding scholarly publications recognized or destined to be recognized broadly as seminal contributions, works of art and performances that break new ground, inventions or other paradigm-setting innovations.”
“We anticipate recognizing five to ten innovations each year,” Marchase said.
The awards process will begin with nominations initiated by department chairs or fellow faculty members and forwarded to the candidate’s dean by the April 1 deadline. The next step will be an evaluation at the School/College level, which will include expert evaluation; only outstanding applications and the evaluations will be sent to the Office of Vice President for Research and Economic Development. The deadline for that submission is April 22.
Marchase’s office then will coordinate a further, highly selective evaluation to be conducted by a distinguished panel of university and community leaders; that group will make a final recommendation to UAB President Carol Garrison.
The initial nomination should include an overview of the idea/project/achievement and a rationale for why it deserves this special recognition, each limited to one page. Applications may include appropriate supporting documentation as appendices. Contact johnsonsh@uab.edu for more information.
UAB Exceptional Innovation Awards Advisory Panel
Gail Andrews, Director, Birmingham Museum of Art
William A. Bell, Mayor, City of Birmingham
Claude Bennett, M.D., Former President, UAB
Will Brooke, Executive VP & COO, Harbert Corp.
William Carter, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UAB Foreign Languages
Marquita Davis, Ph.D., Commissioner, Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs
Mike Fleenor, M.D., Health Officer, Jefferson County Department of Health
Mike Goodrich, President, Goodrich Management Co.
Charles D. Perry, Partner, Highland Associates
Robert R. Rich, M.D., Past VP and Dean, UAB School of Medicine
