Nominations open for President’s Excellence Awards

University of Nebraska Interim President Susan Fritz, Ph.D.

Nominations are being accepted now for the President’s Excellence Awards, the University of Nebraska system’s most prestigious honors for success in teaching, research and service.

Interim President Susan Fritz, Ph.D., and Executive Vice President and Provost David Jackson, Ph.D., formally opened the nomination process in a letter to all faculty and staff on Sept. 18, urging members of the university community to help recognize excellence at the University of Nebraska.

“Great faculty are the lifeblood of any university, and we’re fortunate to have some of the very best serving across our campuses,” Drs. Fritz and Jackson wrote.

Nomination instructions and criteria, along with other details on the five President’s Excellence Awards, are available here.

Brief descriptions of the awards and their nomination deadlines follow. Faculty winners are awarded $10,000 each, and the departmental winner receives $25,000 to support its instructional mission. All nominations are due Nov. 1.

  • Inclusive Excellence Collaboration Award (IECA): Recognizes sustained and outstanding contributions in diversity and inclusion between two or more University of Nebraska academic and/or administrative units or campuses.
  • Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA): Recognizes individual faculty members who have demonstrated meritorious and sustained records of excellence and creativity in teaching.
  • Outstanding Research and Creative Activity (ORCA) Award: Recognizes individual faculty members for outstanding research or creative activity of national or international significance.
  • Innovation, Development and Engagement Award (IDEA): Recognizes faculty members who have extended their academic expertise beyond the boundaries of the university in ways that have enriched the broader community.
  • University-wide Departmental Teaching Award (UDTA): Recognizes a department or unit within the university 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 level.

All winners are chosen by panels of their peers and will be honored at luncheons next spring hosted by Drs. Fritz and Jackson.