THE DISTINGUISHED
PROFESSORSHIP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Definition
The Distinguished Professorship
is created to recruit and recognize persons who have made a significant
impact upon their field through scholarship, creativity, and leadership.
This program shall facilitate the recruitment of the most distinguished
scholars in the world.
Criteria for Appointment
Criteria for appointment
as a Distinguished Professor are discipline-specific. Standards
of excellence are not the same for a physical scientist, a creative
artist, or a social scientist, for example. The criteria used for
nomination and appointment within a particular academic field must
be ones that recognize only the highest level of attainment
in the field. The specification of such criteria and verification
that the candidate’s work meets or exceeds them is a major responsibility
of the person(s) nominating scholars for consideration as Distinguished
Professors.
The criteria should reflect
recognition of (1) outstanding scholarly/creative contributions;
(2) widely regarded leadership status within the nominee’s field;
(3) recognition by arbiters of the highest level of intellectual
eminence, for example, the National Academy of Sciences, American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, or the National Academy of Engineering.
Processing Guidelines
In cases of internal
candidates, recommendations will be reviewed once a year. The campus deadline for this year's internal nominations is Friday, February 20, 2009. Department heads are asked to send the names of any proposed nominees to Vice Dean Kilpatrick well in advance of this deadline, so that a decision may be made as to which nominations will be put forward by the College. Additional documentation such as external letters of support should not be solicited until the Dean's Office has given approval to proceed with the development of a nominations packet.
If a nomination proposal is approved by the College, the final application supporting
the nomination must contain at a minimum the following documentation
for consideration of this honor:
- Letter of support
from Department Head to the Dean
- Letter of support from Dean to the Provost
- Current curriculum
vitae
- Letters of support
from leaders in the field explaining and documenting the impact
of the nominee’s work (minimum of three letters – nationally and
internationally; letters must be detailed)
- Original nomination
packet plus 15 copies
Nominations for appointment
of a Distinguished Professor from outside UIC may originate from
any academic unit at UIC, whether from departments, colleges administrative
offices, or individual professors. Whatever the point of origin,
however, the path of the nomination must follow the same pattern.
The nomination will be considered first in the department or area
of UIC where tenure is or would be held by the Professor. The department
or area forwards a recommendation to the Dean of the college in
which the department or area is situated.External candidates will
be reviewed, as needed, at any time during the academic year, but
must have prior Board of Trustees approval before they become effective.
All nominations will
be reviewed by a panel appointed by the Provost and including individuals from the current roster of UIC Distinguished Professors. The panel
will forward recommendations to the Provost and Vice Chancellor
for Academic Affairs. The panel members will hold their appointments
for a period of at least three (3) years in order to maintain knowledge
and history of this process. The reviewers will be given considerable
time in order to solicit additional letters from nominees’ colleagues
and scholars in their area of expertise.
Term of Appointment
The appointment of UIC
Distinguished Professors will become effective at the beginning
of the next academic year following the Board of Trustees approval.
The appointment is for the duration of their full-time tenure at
UIC.
Institutional Support
Distinguished Professors
will be supported, according to the negotiated conditions of appointment
agreed to at the time of appointment. Department or area resources,
college resources, and campus resources, in combination, must assure
sufficient recurring funds to support the Distinguished Professor
according to the conditions of appointment agreed upon by the Professor
and UIC officers. It is not anticipated that there be a formula
that must be met for support to be forthcoming for each appointment.
Rather, the three campus units (area/department, college, campus
administration) must be considered as potential contributors to
the Professor’s support.
A one-time monetary award
will be given to faculty appointed as Distinguished Professors. Award recipients will
be recognized at the Faculty Awards Dinner in the fall.
