Regents Professors

Selection Process

Regents' Professorships are bestowed by the Board of Regents on truly distinguished faculty whose scholarship or creative activity is recognized both nationally and internationally as innovative and pace-setting.

The purpose of the Regents’ Professorship is to honor full-time faculty at the rank of professor whose exemplary performance has been recognized not only by the institution, but also at the regional, national and/or international level.

The award consists of the designation “Regents’ Professorship” for an initial period of three years. Renewal of the professorship for a second three-year period will be dependent upon the awardees’ continued evidence of exemplary accomplishments. Thereafter, the professorship will be permanent. To highlight the prestige of the award, it will be presented at the annual Augusta University Faculty Awards Assembly and added to the individual’s job title as “Regents’ Professor.”

Eligibility

To be eligible for this award, an individual must demonstrate that he/she has significantly contributed to all missions of the University (teaching, research, and service), and has distinguished his/herself through outstanding contributions to either research or education, and received institutional and regional, national, and/or international recognition for such contributions. These contributions will exceed the eligibility requirements that qualified the individual for a regular, full professorship initially. The work of the individual should substantially enhance AU’s reputation broadly and have an identifiable external impact that brings special attention to AU. Applicants for the Regents’ Professorship must:

  1. Be a full-time faculty member;
  2. Be tenured at the rank of professor;
  3. Have a sustained record of distinguished accomplishments in research or teaching; and contributed to all missions of the institution (teaching, research, and service);
  4. Have a demonstrated commitment to the success of Augusta University.

Nomination and Selection Process

Nominations are accepted each year in the fall. Each college dean may nominate up to two candidates from his/her faculty. The deans will submit the nominees’ portfolios (see section 5. Selection Criteria) to the Provost. Only faculty whose academic accomplishments are clearly outstanding and recognized by the academic community external to AU should be nominated. The Regents’ Professorship Review Committee will convene to consider the nominations. The Review Committee consists of four current Regents’ Professors, appointed to membership by the Provost on behalf of the President. Members serve two-year, staggered terms, and one member is elected as chair annually.

The Review Committee will review the submitted documentation, consider the strengths of each nominee, and recommend a limited number of nominees to the Provost. The Provost will review the Committee’s recommendations with the President. Per USG BOR policy, nomination of a faculty member to the Board of Regents requires unanimous recommendation by the President, the Chief Academic Officer, the appropriate academic Dean, and at least three members of the faculty Selection Committee. The President will determine the final number of nominees to be recommended to the Board of Regents. It is the responsibility of the Provost acting on the President’s behalf to recommend Regents’ Professors to the USG Board of Regents.

Selection Criteria

The Regents’ Professorship is a prestigious award from the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to acknowledge the exemplary contributions of outstanding faculty. While all faculty candidates are expected to perform in all areas of the mission (teaching, research, and service), areas of emphasis in either research or teaching will be considered for Regents’ Professorships. The supporting documents should offer a summary of the nominee’s best performance in the area of emphasis along with documentation supporting involvement in the other two mission areas. The Dean shall submit on behalf of each nominee a Regents’ Professorship portfolio containing but not limited to the following recommended materials:

  • Nomination letter from the candidate’s dean (also from the chair, if applicable)
  • The candidate’s curriculum vitae
  • Other materials as needed to provide evidence that the candidate meets or exceeds the research, teaching, and service expectations.

RESEARCH EMPHASIS

Research Accomplishments Each full-time faculty who earns the rank of professor is expected to have achieved success in contributing new knowledge to his or her discipline or to a related discipline.

A nominee for the Regents’ Professorship Award is expected to have made significant contributions to his or her discipline within each five year period over the course of his/her career. The nominee should have exhibited a well-sustained history of extramural funding as principal investigator on multiple, major extramural grants, along with a similar record of publications in top tier peer reviewed journals in their discipline. The nominee should have a record of noted accomplishments by his/her peers (e.g., research awards, invited addresses, etc.). As part of the candidate’s research and scholarly works, it is desirable for one to have mentored students and junior faculty and to have infused the research, creative works, and scholarly works into one’s teaching.

If not adequately documented in the candidate’s CV, additional documentation might include:

  • An inventory of extramural funding awards including information such as the funding source, duration, amount of the award and area of focus.
  • A bibliography of research and scholarly works (e.g., peer-reviewed articles, books, monographs, invited papers, reports, etc).
  • Letters of support, conference programs, and other items that evidence involvement as a mentor of student and/or junior faculty in research and scholarly works.
  • Research awards/recognition.
  • Narrative description of the candidate’s research plans for upcoming years including any extramural funding submissions for which decisions are outstanding.

The nominee’s portfolio should also include documentation of teaching and service over the same time period. Examples of teaching documentation may include:

  • Description of direct teaching activity or mentoring in the laboratory or clinics.
  • Formal standard evaluations (students, peers, supervisors).
  • Citations or other acknowledgements by former students (e.g., letters, emails, cards, etc.).
  • Teaching awards/recognition.
  • Other applicable documentation.

TEACHING EMPHASIS

Teaching Accomplishments A nominee for the Regents’ Professorship Award is expected to have made significant contributions to teaching and learning. A nominee should have a nationally recognized record of noted accomplishments as recognized by his/her peers. Each full-time faculty who earns the rank of professor is expected to have achieved success in imparting sufficient content in his or her discipline to enable students in his or her courses to achieve the expected outcomes needed to prepare them for more advanced study and/or for entry into selected professions.

A nominee for Regents’ Professorship is expected to have demonstrated exemplary performance outcomes by his/her students. This should be acknowledged by substantial populations of former students, faculty or peers in positions to judge performance outcomes.

If not adequately documented in the candidate’s CV, additional documentation might include:

  • Narrative description of teaching philosophy, courses or programs developed and effective pedagogical strategies.
  • An inventory of the innovative teaching materials, methods, uses of technology, etc., created by the nominee including a description, type of material, and the settings where such have been shared or used. Descriptions of the use of these teaching tools both within and outside of AU, and assessment results of the benefits should also be included.
  • Peer reviewed publications related to teaching.
  • Description of scholarly activity that occurs through direct teaching or mentoring.
  • An inventory of teaching related extramural funding awards including information such as the funding source, duration, amount of the award and area of focus.
  • Documentation of student performance or learning outcomes.
  • Formal standard evaluations (students, peers, supervisors).
  • Citations or other acknowledgements by former students (e.g., letters, emails, cards, etc.). Include no more than five.
  • Teaching awards/recognition.
  • Other applicable documentation.

The nominee’s portfolio should include documentation of any research related activities and service over the same time period. It is considered desirable to have mentored students or junior faculty or to have infused any research into one’s teaching.

Sample documentation may include:

  • List of any research related extramural funding awards.
  • Samples of research works (e.g., books, articles, monographs, invited papers, reports, etc).
  • Letters of support, conference programs, and other items that evidence involvement in research or as a mentor of student and/or junior faculty in research.

SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Each nominee, in either area of emphasis, is expected to have made contributions to professional organizations, societies, and/or communities during his or her career.

A nominee for either the research emphasis or teaching emphasis track for the Regents’ Professorship Award is expected to have contributed time and expertise in advancing professional organizations, and special projects/initiatives that promote the mission and goals for Augusta University and/or other universities. Such service must extend over multiple years and involve the application of intellectual skills drawing from the candidate’s scholarly and research interests to issues of public concern.

If not adequately documented in the candidate’s CV, additional documentation might include:

  • A narrative summary of service on the regional, national and international level (including names of organizations or agencies served, descriptions of service and dates of service).
  • A listing of awards and recognitions for service related activities.

 

Source: Board of Regents Policy Manual, Section 8.3.2