Nominator Hub

There are three types of Academic Awards for undergraduate students: Departmental Awards, Competitive Awards, and General Academic. Tufts’ Academic Awards are the only student awards overseen by the Committee on Academic Awards, a by-law-governed faculty committee. While Departmental Awards and Competitive Awards are open to students specific departments or programs, the General Academic Awards are open for nominations. You may review the various award categories here.

These nominations are due February 5, 2024. Link to nomination form: https://forms.gle/PxXts442txniCxAV9

If you have any questions, please email Michael.Ragone@tufts.edu or call 617-627-4239. *If you’re having trouble accessing the form, please open the link in a private/incognito browser. When prompted to sign in, use your Tufts email, and you should be directed to login with your TuftsID and password. 

To nominate a graduate student in the School of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, please visit: https://students.tufts.edu/graduate/graduate-awards-nomination-process

Two Academic Awards (see "Nominate an Undergraduate Student," above) are open to graduate students. To nominate a graduate student for the Community Service Award or the Pride on the Hill Award, please complete this nomination form: https://forms.gle/PxXts442txniCxAV9. These nominations are due February 5, 2024.

Excellence in teaching is a major goal at Tufts University. From its inception, the university has prided itself on providing students with the highest-quality education. At the same time, the university recognizes outstanding research that furthers our knowledge and understanding of each field of study. And we place a special value on service to our community. Each of the following awards is intended to single out those individuals whose contributions in these three areas are extraordinary.

Nominations are typically solicited in the spring and winners are announced at the final faculty meeting of the academic year, in May. For more information, contact the group responsible for administering the award. (Please note, not all faculty awards are open for nominations. For a full list of AS&E Faculty Awards, please see the AS&E Faculty Awards page).

^{Lillian and Joseph Leibner Award for Excellence in Teaching and Advising of Students}

The Lillian and Joseph Leibner Award recognizes outstanding advising and teaching. This award rotates among four broad AS&E research disciplines. For 2023-2024, nominations are restricted to Engineering.  

Each eligible department, after consulting with faculty and students, is invited to nominate one of its tenure-stream faculty members for this award. The nominations must be in the form of a written statement making the case for the nominee and an optional appendix of supporting documents. Please include specific information that documents teaching and advising excellence, including their efforts and success in creating inclusive learning environments, as noted below. Examples of documents to include in an optional appendix include comments from former and current students, statistics from teaching evaluations, and information from student surveys. Please limit these documents to a maximum of five double-spaced pages for the statement and five pages for the appendix. 

All nominations should include:

• Faculty member’s efforts and success in creating inclusive learning environments
• Enrollment statistics
• Average ratings for the following evaluation questions: the “overall rating of the professor,” the “overall rating of the course,” “compared to other courses at Tufts, I learned…”, and “how would you rate the instructor’s success in creating and maintaining an inclusive class, respectful of all students?”

Nominations for this award can be made by faculty members and students, but must be submitted by the department chair to Amy Maher, Administrator to the Dean, via email to Amy.Maher@tufts.edu.  Awards are selected by a review committee including last year’s recipient. 

^{Faculty Research Awards Committee (FRAC) Distinguished Scholar Award}

The Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes one faculty member from Arts & Sciences for distinguished research and scholarship in their discipline over the last five years. This award is granted by the A&S Faculty Research Awards Committee and rotates among three broad categories of disciplines: Social Sciences; Arts and Humanities; and Natural Sciences. For 2023-2024, nominations are restricted to Arts & Humanities and are due Monday, February 26.

Please see the required documents below:

1. Written summary in language accessible to non-specialists describing the work and its importance (in no more than 1000 words)
2. Curriculum vitae 
3. Two letters of support from scholars outside the university
4. A representative sample of the nominee’s most noteworthy accomplishments (PDFs or links to books, articles, art, etc.)

Nominations for the award can be made by department members of the year’s respective discipline. Tenured faculty and full-time Professors of the Practice are eligible. Departments or programs in the Arts and Humanities should submit nomination materials to the Faculty Research Awards Committee at frac@tufts.edu. More information available on the FRAC webpage.

^{Recognition of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award}

The Recognition of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence (ROUTE) award recognizes distinguished teaching, advising and mentoring, by tenure-track members of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering. This award is specifically intended for untenured (but tenure-track) full-time faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching and advising, show concern for their students’ academic and personal growth, and convey a passion and enthusiasm for their field of study.

Each department may nominate one candidate for this award. Please see the required documents below. In addition to the Curriculum Vitae and course syllabi, the following items should not exceed five double-spaced pages.

• Letter of nomination
• Summary of teaching evaluations
• Sampling of student comments about teaching, advising, mentoring, and inclusive learning environments
• Description of the nominee’s teaching and advising philosophy and evidence of their commitment to diversity and inclusion (to be provided by the nominee) 
• Evidence of innovative teaching

^{Faculty/Staff Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Service Award}

This award recognizes the contributions of members of the AS&E faculty and staff who have made significant efforts to define Tufts as a DEIJ environment in which race, ethnicity, religion, class, gender, and sexual orientation are not barriers to the full enjoyment of community membership. Each year, the committee typically select one faculty member and one staff person whose efforts at Tufts best exemplify these ideals. We would appreciate your assistance in identifying faculty and staff members who deserve to be recognized. We are especially interested in nominations of individuals whose work may have had a significant impact on our community even if it has not received much publicity. Since it was established in 1995, 30 of our past and present colleagues have received the award.  

Please direct nominations to erin.sullivan@tufts.edu on behalf the A&S and SoE DEIJ Committees.

^{Faculty Teaching and Mentoring Award in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering}

This award recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding support of a graduate student (or students) from course completion through research and post-degree placement. Special attention will be paid to nominees who have demonstrated ongoing support for underrepresented students and for issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Two awards are given each year, one recognizing a faculty member in Arts and Sciences and one recognizing a faculty member in Engineering.

Nomination Instructions for Faculty Teaching and Mentoring Award

^{The Gerald R. Gill Distinguished Service Award 
_{(Closed for nominations in AY 2023-2024)}}

• Awarded by the Africana Center.
• Acknowledges an effort to create a collegiate environment where the contributions of people of African descent are not only recognized but celebrated.
• Presented annually to a member of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences and Engineering.
• Awarded every other year

^{Faculty/Staff Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Service Award}

This award recognizes the contributions of members of the AS&E faculty and staff who have made significant efforts to define Tufts as a DEIJ environment in which race, ethnicity, religion, class, gender, and sexual orientation are not barriers to the full enjoyment of community membership. Each year, the committee typically select one faculty member and one staff person whose efforts at Tufts best exemplify these ideals. We would appreciate your assistance in identifying faculty and staff members who deserve to be recognized. We are especially interested in nominations of individuals whose work may have had a significant impact on our community even if it has not received much publicity. Since it was established in 1995, 30 of our past and present colleagues have received the award.  

Please direct nominations to erin.sullivan@tufts.edu on behalf the A&S and SoE DEIJ Committees.

^{Tufts University Alumni Association Alumni Awards}