MEMORANDUM

DATE: August 2009
TO: Deans, Directors and Department Chairs
FROM: Kirby Kemper, Vice President for Research and Robert O. Lawton Professor of Physics
RE: Developing Scholar Awards, Call for Nominations, 2009 - 2010

Important Dates:

• Deadline: Monday, February 8, 2010, 11:59 p.m.
• Note: There may be earlier deadlines at the department, college or school levels for signing off on this paperwork before it is submitted to this office.
• Award notification, directly to the PI, via email w/attachments, is planned on/about March 31, 2010.
• Awards will be presented by the University President at the Faculty Awards Program, generally early April.
• Award Period: July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011; award amount is $10,000

Introduction:

The Council on Research and Creativity (CRC) is seeking nominations for the Developing Scholar Award for 2009-2010. This award program is designed to recognize FSU faculty who are several years advanced into their careers. This competition is intended to help identify FSU's future academic leaders.

Colleges and schools are encouraged to make a sensitive inventory of eligible colleagues and present nomination packets for their very best candidates.

Eligibility:

• Faculty who are already in receipt of a Developing Scholar Award are not eligible for this award.
• The candidates should be at an early point in their mid-career as academics. Awards will be made to FSU faculty who have achieved the rank of tenured associate professor no earlier than, not before, the 2007-2008 academic year. Contributions and accomplishments since joining the faculty at FSU should be emphasized in the nomination information.

Example Proposals: Examples of selected successful proposals are available. Email the Program Coordinator at jtownsend@fsu.edu for examples.

Criteria:

The Developing Scholar Award is based on evidence of a clearly established program of teaching, research and creativity lasting over a number of years. The candidate should be well into the program, i.e., there should be a strong cumulative record of achievements which must be clearly representative of all aspects of your scholarly career, e.g., teaching, service, research. Also list any established publications or performances during the preceding five or six years coupled with a clear line of forthcoming and anticipated future accomplishments comprising the program.

There should be evidence presented of a record of superior teaching, research and creativity that has begun to earn external recognition. Some examples of such evidence are

• positions on editorial boards of leading academic journals,
• selection for review panels of funding agencies,
• ability to attract federal and foundation support for research and creative activity,
• ability to attract graduate students to the university,
• publication in the leading journals or by high quality book presses or museum catalogues or critical reviews from important venues,
• artistic performance in the leading locations and
• strong letters of recommendation by clearly distinguished scholars, referees, or art critics.

Not to be included among the selection criteria are such factors as sex, race, field of specialization, department, school or college, outside activities, previous accomplishments in other fields or positions, whether or not the candidate is applying for other campus awards (e.g., COFRS, sabbatical), and whether other members from the same department or school have been selected for awards during the year or in the past.

Visual arts applicants: Since exhibitions equate to performances or to published articles in other disciplines, in addition to citations of significant critical reviews and/or inclusion of artworks in museum catalogues, please indicate the hierarchy of exhibitions listed (solo; 1-3 person; invitational; juried).

Award:

A Developing Scholar honoree will receive a one-time award of $10,000 that is to be used to promote the awardee's program of research and creativity during the academic year following the award's presentation. The award is generally in the form of an E&G account and may be used for, as an example, OPS expense, OCO expenditures, graduate student support (that must include fringe benefits cost as part of the award), and travel.

Faculty salary request is not accepted.

All expenditures must be approved by both the recipient's department and the Office of the VP Research post-award staff prior to the encumbrance of funds.

Selection:

All areas are urged to nominate their most qualified associate professors. The CRC will accept any number of unranked nominations for this award from each school or college and will recommend up to five candidates to the University President. The President will ratify those recommendations.

Nomination Process:

The nomination process will be electronic only! All materials are to be prepared for each nominee and will include, in this order:

1. A letter of nomination, addressed to the DSA Review Committee, from a Florida State University faculty member, FSU administrator or a self-nomination letter which addresses the selection criteria above; if someone other than the nominee is the letter writer, please include a brief CV (no more than 2 pages) from the letter's author.
2. A clear, complete and non-technical description of a systematic program of teaching, research and creative activity which includes a summary of what has been accomplished during the previous five to six years.
3. A description of future direction, goals and anticipated accomplishments comprising the program.
4. Three letters of recommendation from established senior scholars (at least one of these letters should be from a colleague with a direct relationship to the nominee) from outside FSU written within 18 months prior to the date of this announcement August 2008). NOTE: It is required that the letters be written and addressed to Kirby Kemper, but mailed back to the person in the department area who requested the letters so that all letters can be included in the materials that come forward to nominate the candidate. These letters should include a statement on the qualifications of the writers of the recommendation letters; a brief (limited to two pages) CV from the letter author is appreciated.
5. Letters of endorsement from the departmental chair and the school or college dean carry significant weight and they are required. Submission will not be accepted without both letters, where applicable. These letters should also include a statement indicating a commitment to provide resources and means to facilitate the candidate's program insofar as possible. For example, this might include a reduction of teaching load during the following year and/or additional graduate assistance or financial assistance.
6. The nominee will submit a detailed statement indicating how these awarded funds will be utilized in the nominee's teaching, research or creative endeavors.
7. Curriculum vita. The vita should be current, concise and complete. It should contain full documentation of grants, awards, publications, exhibitions and performances (e.g., dates, locations, page numbers, co-authorship, publication status). Indicate with an asterisk (or by some other means) those publications or presentations that were selected through a formal independent referee or competitive process, or that are invitational opportunities tantamount to awards or honors (e.g. invitation to participate in the Paris Biennale).
8. A list of additional materials or websites may be submitted that would lend support to the candidate's nomination. The CRC does not want articles or books submitted. But it reserves the right to call for these if needed in determining the final selections.
9. In those instances where you are asked to submit multiple letters and/or short CVs from those individuals who are providing letters regarding the nominee, you should scan the materials and, using the Adobe Acrobat professional version software, organize those materials into one document to be uploaded into the CRC system in the appropriate spots where multiple documents are requested.

Submission:

You must Use:

• the CRC Online System to electronically submit your nomination information.

The CRC programs utilize a special online proposal submission process which provides

• an electronic method for submitting your nomination to the Program Coordinator,
• an electronic method for the Program Coordinator to assign those nominations to reviewers, and
• an electronic method whereby those reviewers can submit their evaluation score and comments regarding the nomination back to the Program Coordinator.

You do not need special training to use the CRC OnLine system. It is only through this process that your nomination will be accessible to reviewers so that evaluations can be recorded and funding recommendations made, and perhaps awarded.

To begin the process, you will need to completely read the instructions in this announcement. Prepare and save the various required elements in your computer. See Nomination Process above for specific information required for submission.

Once you have done this, then go to https://submissions.research.fsu.edu and follow the simple instructions.

• The name of the person in the PROFILE must be the name of the nominee.  The other information related to the person in the PROFILE must also reflect information regarding the nominee.
• If you have completed a PROFILE for the CRC Online process in the past, DO NOT make a new PROFILE. Go right to #3.
• If you have never submitted a proposal through our system, first make a PROFILE so our database will know who you are.
• Start the Submit a Nomination process by answering all the questions and uploading all the required elements.
• You will have an opportunity to submit/store/save your material and update/edit it until the posted deadline for the program.
• You will receive an email confirmation of your submission, even in its initial form, providing you with a login name and passcode so that you can revisit your submission in the CRC system until you are satisfied that it is final, or the deadline is reached, whichever comes first!
• In those instances where you are asked to submit multiple letters and/or short CVs from those individuals who are providing letters regarding the nominee, you should scan the materials and, using the Adobe Acrobat professional version software, organize those materials into one document to be uploaded into the CRC system in the appropriate spots where multiple documents are requested.

You should note that materials received after the deadline will not be processed and incomplete materials will not be accepted, so please revisit your submission to make certain it is complete before the deadline.

Questions?

Jan Townsend is your conduit for CRC proposal submission. Here is her contact info:

Program Coordinator, CRC
Office of the Vice President for Research
Florida State University
109 Westcott Building, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1330
Direct line: 850.644.8636 or jtownsend@fsu.edu