Faculty Mentor Award
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs Distinguished Faculty Mentor Award recognizes research scientists, tenure-track, and tenured faculty from any discipline who are outstanding mentors of postdoctoral fellows; who support fellows’ intellectual, creative, scholarly, and professional growth; and who foster a culture of engagement in which postdoctoral fellows thrive at the University of Michigan.
Award information
Eligibility
Research scientists, tenure-track, and tenured faculty members in any discipline may be nominated for these awards.
Selection Criteria
- Nominees should have a sustained record of mentoring and advising postdoctoral fellows.
- Nominees should demonstrate an extraordinary generosity of spirit in fostering the intellectual, creative, scholarly, and professional growth of fellows at the highest level.
- Nominees should foster a culture of intellectual engagement in which postdoctoral fellows thrive.
Number of Awards
Three awards will be given, each in the amount of $1,000.
Awards will be presented at a ceremony during National Postdoc Appreciation Week, usually the third week of September.
Application process
Nominating letter
The letter may be no longer than two pages. It is a required part of the nomination application for each faculty member.
As selection committee members represent a range of disciplines and may not be familiar with the nominee’s field, describe the nominee’s skills and dedication as a mentor in a way that conveys their significance to those not acquainted with the field.
Given the number of engaged faculty, the letter should explain why the nominee’s particular contributions to mentoring are exceptional and deserving of this honor.
Letters should discuss, for example, the nominee’s mentoring style, how the nominee mentors postdoctoral fellows in diverse career paths, and, if applicable, the extent to which the nominee mentors postdoctoral fellows in the fellows’ own work with students.
The letter may incorporate quotations from former and current postdoctoral fellows, peers, or other faculty with whom the nominee has collaborated.
Letters should show how the nominee:
- Creates a rigorous and supportive environment for scholarship, research, and/or artistic production for postdoctoral fellows in their research group
- Maintains accessibility by consistently providing open lines of communication with members of their research groups
- Provides postdoctoral fellows with the confidence, encouragement, and resources necessary to take full advantage of academic and professional opportunities
- Advances and enriches postdoctoral fellows’ long-term professional development, regardless of the career path postdoctoral fellows may choose to pursue
- Models positive mentoring practices to support postdoctoral fellows’ future mentoring of others, including maintaining a climate of psychological safety in their research labs
Curriculum Vitae
Provide the nominee’s current c.v.
Optional Letters of Support
In addition to the nominating letter, which is required, units may also choose to submit up to two (2) optional letters of support.
These letters should be no more than one (1) page in length, and are meant to bolster a faculty member’s nomination. For example, units may wish to contact past postdoctoral fellows and ask them to draft a letter to complement the unit’s official nomination of a faculty member.
Only those with active uniqnames will be able to submit letters. Former postdoctoral fellows who draft letters of support can share their letters with unit staff, who can submit the letters.
To submit the letters, click on the nomination button above and follow instructions for sharing optional letters of support.
Selection Process
A committee of faculty who are recognized as outstanding mentors will review nominations and submit recommendations to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs director, who will make the final selection. Recipients will be notified during the winter term.
Source of Nominations
Nominations may be submitted by deans, directors, department or program heads, promotion or award committees, or staff supporting any of the above. Nominations may also be submitted by individual postdoctoral research fellows.
Guidelines for Preparing Nominations
As described above, a nomination dossier must include faculty nominee information, a nominating letter, and faculty nominee curriculum vitae.
Incomplete nomination dossiers will not be reviewed.
The online nomination dossier may be set up by a U-M faculty other than the nominee or staff member, including postdoctoral fellows.
The nomination system may be accessed as often as needed in order to complete the nomination dossier. All materials must be uploaded in Adobe PDF format.
Deadline
The nomination deadline is Fri., Apr. 3, at 5:00 p.m. EST.
Questions
If you have any questions about the award or award ceremony, please contact the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at postdoc-affairs@umich.edu.