Distinguished University Professor

Distinguished University Professor

The Office of Academic Affairs awards the permanent, honorific title of Distinguished University Professor on a competitive basis to full tenure track professors who have truly exceptional records in teaching, in research, scholarly or creative work, and in service.  One to three appointments may be awarded annually to faculty members who have been at Ohio State for at least five years; Ohio Eminent Scholars are not eligible for this award.  Distinguished University Professors automatically become members of the President’s and Provost’s Advisory Committee.  In addition, recipients are awarded a $30,000 one-time grant to support their academic work and are expected to maintain a regular program of teaching/ mentorship, research, scholarly or creative work, and service.

Department chairs may submit nominations of one or more of their tenure track faculty members to the dean of the college.  In colleges that do not have departments, faculty awards committees should submit nominations.  The nomination letter should provide a detailed rationale for the nomination, including impact (whether the nominee changed the thinking in the discipline) across the areas of teaching/mentorship, research, scholarship or creative works, and service.  The selection committee will look carefully for candidates who have exceptional records across these areas.  Nominators should use the checklist below to make sure sufficient information is provided in each area.

Nomination letter

  • Detailed rationale for nomination highlighting teaching/mentorship, research, scholarship or creative works, and service
  • Provide norms of the discipline (e.g., numbers of graduate students, funding history, publication history, etc.)
  • Explain significance and competitiveness of any national or international honors, awards, or Academy memberships

Example of documentation of accomplishments in teaching/mentorship, scholarship, and service

  • No more than 5 pages
  • Teaching/Mentoring
    • Examples might include a table with graduate students and their post-graduation positions, a brief summary of student SEI comments, exemplary curricular developments, etc.
  • Research, Scholarship, or Creative Works
    • Include h-index and the ISI Web of Science value when possible
    • If using Google Scholar, identify it as such
    • Documentation of rankings of exhibitions
    • Multiple books from highly regarded publishers
  • Service
    • Include information on professional and university service

Nominators should not seek external evaluations of the nominee’s work.  Deans will establish a screening process to review nominations within their colleges and to decide which nomination(s) will be fully documented with three external evaluations.  Colleges may submit one new or updated nomination.  Colleges with more than 250 faculty members (Engineering; Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; Medicine; and each of the divisions of Arts and Sciences) may submit two new or updated nominations.

Nominations

Assemble nomination materials into one nomination PDF in the order listed below.

  • Cover letter from Dean or Dean’s designee
  • Nominator’s letter and documentation of accomplishments
  • Three external evaluation letters
  • Nominee’s curriculum vitae

Submit nomination PDF via e-mail by February 1, 2024, to Jacqueline Honeck at honeck.7@osu.edu​​​​​​​. Please type “Distinguished University Professor” into the subject line of the e-mail.

Award Winners

Current