Nominations for the Fellows of the University Award for Departmental Excellence in Research, recognizing research, scholarly, and creative productivity, are due at Research Development and Compliance (RD&C), Wednesday, January 7, 2009. The winning department will receive a $1,500 award and a plaque at the Founders Day Banquet Thursday, February 26, 2009.

Nominations should include information that will allow the selection committee to judge the quantity and quality of the research, scholarly, and creative activities of the department. At a minimum, such nominations should include:

• a listing of published research or other creative or scholarly activities during the period 2003-2008.
  
  
• Additional information for those years, such as a brief synopsis of ongoing research activities, the number and type of active sponsored projects, dissertations or other research papers presented by students, performances or scholarly presentations by faculty, etc., should be included if they contribute to the overall picture of a department's research, scholarly, and creative activities.
  
  
• A statement of support from the dean is required.
  
  
• To expedite the review process, nine copies of the nomination and supporting documentation should be submitted to Research Development &Compliance.

The awardee will be selected by the Outstanding Research Awards Committee which includes the Associate Vice President for Research (chair), the chair of the Senate Scholarly Activities Committee, one faculty member from the Senate Scholarly Activities Committee, three faculty members from the University Research Council, the chair of the Faculty Research Seed Money Council, and one member of the Faculty Research Seed Money Council.

Since previous awardees are ineligible for nomination until five years have passed, the Departments of Psychology (2008), Chemical Engineering (2005), Microbiology and Immunology (2004), may not be nominated this year. Departmental awards were not given in 2006 and 2007.