Overview

The Dean's Distinguished Faculty Awards include five distinct awards. Each of these is described in greater detail in the PDF document below its name on this page, including criteria, process for nomination, required materials, and timeline.

With the exception of the Early Career Faculty Award, all nominated faculty must have completed at least five years of service at UT Austin.

Professional-track faculty are eligible for all awards except the Early Career Faculty Award, which is for tenure-track faculty only.

COE faculty may nominate themselves or others for these awards by notifying their department chair and administrative manager by [Date TBD]. Nominations will first be reviewed by departmental committees with nominee for each award going forward to the Dean's Office. Note that departmental nomination materials must be received by the Dean's Office by [Date TBD]. The Dean will convene a committee to review nominations who will make recommendations for final selection.

Briefly, the five distinct awards are:

Dean’s Distinguished Professional-Track Award: Recognizes a COE professional-track faculty member who has compiled a distinguished record in at least two of the following areas: teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, research, or service. This award is meant to acknowledge and celebrate the faculty member’s impact on the department, the college, and the field.
Dean’s Distinguished Community Impact Award: Recognizes a COE faculty member with extraordinary achievement across their portfolios. In particular, this faculty member has compiled a distinguished record of addressing education and/or health disparities, and centering access and equitable opportunities for students, families and other stakeholders by working in close partnership with communities of practice. In bridging research and practice, the faculty member has led efforts to connect faculty, staff, and/or students in their program/department/college, The University with broader communities in Central Texas, the state of Texas, the nation, and beyond.
Dean’s Distinguished Early Career Faculty Award: Recognizes an early career tenure-track faculty member in the College of Education in their fourth, fifth or sixth year in rank as an assistant professor who has compiled a distinguished record of research.
Dean’s Distinguished Research Award: Recognizes a mid-career/senior COE faculty member who has developed a distinguished record of research/scholarly contributions (the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies can grant exceptions to other research-related professionals who would like to be eligible for this award). Selection will be based on evidence of sustained excellence in research, including such things as publications (quantity and quality), grant activity, and impact and significance of research/scholarship to the field.
Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award: Recognizes a COE faculty member in the College of Education who has compiled a distinguished record of teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, and has been teaching in the college for at least 5 years. Selection will be based on evidence of sustained excellence in teaching, as evidenced by peer evaluations, participation in course and program design, instructional innovation, and student comments and ratings on CIS evaluations.