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Distinction in Research, Scholarship, and Creativity

The UWF Awards for Distinction in Research, Scholarship, and Creativity recognize excellence in the impact of research, scholarly, and creative activities.


Call for Nominations

Awards are available to recognize individuals with a distinguished record of research, scholarly, and/or creative achievements at UWF. Such achievements may include, but are not limited to:

  • Production/publication of research, creative, and scholarly products, including manuscripts, books, performances, exhibitions, or displays.
  • Successful engagement in multidisciplinary efforts that culminate in research products.
  • Scholarly activities that engage and inform the community.
  • Demonstrated engagement in the pursuit and securing of external funds to support research or has made a lasting impact on their disciplinary field.

The next round of nominations will be available during Summer 2026.

Full-time faculty (tenure-earning, tenured, or non-tenure-earning) with distinguished records of achievement are eligible for nomination, with the following exceptions:

  • Recipients of the UWF Distinguished University Professorship designation
  • Faculty who have received Faculty Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Activities within the last three years (2022-2024)

  1. Early Career - service of six years or less at UWF
  2. Senior Faculty - service of seven years or more at UWF

Awards will be presented at the Faculty Awards Celebration on November 20, 2025.

Nominations will be submitted via the shared Faculty Awards Nominations 2025 form from the Provost’s Office. Nominations should be submitted by September 3, 2025. Then RAE will contact the nominating person to request the documents for consideration.

Once we have received the nomination, we will provide the nominating Chair/Associate Dean/Dean a link to submit all nomination materials as one packet via Qualtrics. Application materials should be completed by the nominating party, with assistance from the nominee.

IMPORTANT: To submit this nomination, the nominator will need the following information from the nominee:

  1. Nominee's name, UWF email address, department, and college
  2. Two-page CV from the nominee, as described in the call for nominations
  3. One-page statement of research/scholarly/creative impact from the nominee, as described in the Call for Nominations

Please ensure you have all the necessary information before proceeding, as the nominating form/survey cannot be saved and restarted.

Timeline

Call for nominations: Monday, June 2, 2025

Deadline for nominations: Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Deadline for nominee materials: Wednesday, September 30, 2025

Award recipients announcement: Thursday, November 20, 2025

2024 Recipents

  • Rodney Guttmann, Biology, Senior Faculty
  • Karen Molek, Chemistry, Senior Faculty
  • John Pecore, School of Education, Senior Faculty
  • Shelby Solomon, Business Administration, Junior Faculty

Previous Recipients

Year Award Recipient Name and Department
2023 Senior Faculty Ashok Srinivasan, Computer Science
2023 Senior Faculty Brandy Strahan, School of Nursing
2023 Senior Faculty Joe Spaniola, The Dr. Grier Williams School of Music
2023 Junior Faculty Mengying Xiao, Mathematics and Statistics
2023 Junior Faculty Tarek Youssef, Electrical and Computer Engineering
2022 Senior Faculty Barbara Larson, Art and Design
2022 Senior Faculty Jun Wei, Business Administration
2022 Junior Faculty Hakki Sevil, Intelligent Systems and Robotics
2022 Junior Faculty Jamin Wells, History and Philosophy
2021 Senior Faculty Jocelyn Evans, Reubin O'D. Askew Department of Government
2021 Senior Faculty Phil Darby, Biology
2021 Senior Faculty Debra Vinci, Movement Sciences
2021 Junior Faculty Allysha Winburn, Anthropology
2021 Junior Faculty Christopher Atkinson, Administration and Law
2021 Junior Faculty Katherine Miller-Wolf, Anthropology
2020 Senior Faculty Kevin Kreiger, Accounting and Finance
2020 Junior Faculty Kwame Owusu-Daaku, Earth & Environmental Sciences
2019 Senior Faculty Jim Arruda, Department of Psychology
2019 Senior Faculty Jane Caffrey, Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation
2019 Senior Faculty Arun (Tim) Royappa, Department of Chemistry
2019 Junior Faculty Kimberly Day, Department of Psychology
2019 Junior Faculty Daudet Illunga Tshiswaka, Public Health
2019 Junior Faculty Alexis Janosik, Department of Biology
2019 Junior Faculty Tanay Kesharwani, Department of Chemistry
2014 (unknown) S. Keller, Marketing & Economics
2014 (unknown) L. VanWormer, Psychology
2014 (unknown) C. Thompson, Research & Advanced Studies
2013 (unknown) J. Caffrey, Biology
2013 (unknown) W. Huth, Marketing & Economics
2013 (unknown) L. Yanovskiy, Music
2013 (unknown) F. Tone, Mathematics & Statistics
2012 (unknown) Si. Bagui, Computer Science
2012 (unknown) M. Crow, Criminal Justice
2012 (unknown) L. Koppes Bryan, Psychology
2012 (unknown) J. Liebens, Environmental Studies
2011 (unknown) Su. Bagui, Mathematics & Statistics
2011 (unknown) E. Bakhoum, Electrical & Computer Engineering
2011 (unknown) H. Chung, Biology
2011 (unknown) C. E. Wynn Teasley, Management & MIS
2010 (unknown) W. Huth, Marketing & Economics
2010 (unknown) J. Wei, Management & MIS
2010 (unknown) W. Patterson, Biology
2009 Faculty Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Activities Hedi Salanki-Rubardt, Music Department
2009
Faculty Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Activities James E. Arruda, Psychology Department
2009
External Funding Joe Eugene Lepo, Biology/CEDB
2009 External Funding Kathleen Heubach, Teacher Education
2008 External Funding Susan E. Walch
2008 Scholarly and/or Creative Activities William L. Mikulas
2008 Scholarly and/or Creative Activities Scott B. Keller