Dean’s Prize to Recognize Faculty Excellence in Liberal Arts and Sciences

The UC Davis College of Letters and Science has established a new prize to recognize and support faculty whose research, teaching, and service exemplifies the transformational intellectual and human value of the liberal arts and sciences. For 2019-20, the prize will include a privately funded award of $10,000.

“The liberal arts and sciences are defined by curiosity and intellectual passion: the willingness and the demand that we ask ‘why,’ not just ‘what’ or ‘how.’ This question underlies basic science research, historical archival scholarship, and artistic expression that captures and reimagines how we experience the world. I am pleased that in the College of Letters and Science we are able to support our sustaining commitment to the transformational value of liberal arts and sciences education and curiosity-driven research,” said Dean Elizabeth Spiller.

The Dean’s Prize for Distinguished Contributions to the Liberal Arts and Sciences will be awarded annually to a faculty member whose research, teaching, and service activities have been informed by and had an exceptional impact on the liberal arts and sciences. The prize will be open to all tenured academic faculty members in the College of Letters and Science. Nominations for the 2019-20 prize will be considered by a faculty committee chaired by Professor Pablo Ortiz of the Department of Music.

The Faculty Review Committee welcomes short letters of nomination of up to 500 words describing the nominee’s contributions to the liberal arts and sciences. Nominations will be initially assessed by the committee, and then a subset of the initial nominees will be invited to submit a full application. 

The letters of nomination should be submitted by 5 p.m. on Dec. 2 to lsawards@ucdavis.edu. The 2019-20 prize winner will be announced and recognized on May 7, 2020.

— Becky Oskin, content strategist in the College of Letters and Science