Curators’ Distinguished Professorships

Purpose

The UM System Board of Curators created a class of Distinguished Curators’ Professorships to denote and support truly outstanding scholars and Distinguished Curators’ Teaching Professorships to recognize and support extraordinary classroom performance. The following are procedures to nominate faculty for these designations from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The Board of Curators will review nominations annually at their September meeting and all nominations must be submitted to the Board by August for consideration. The deadline for Deans to forward full nomination packets to the Provost is March 1 st.

Description

Established in March 1968 by the University of Missouri Board of Curators, these prestigious positions are bestowed only upon outstanding scholars with established reputations. Therefore, it is expected that there will be few such appointments and the number of active Curators' Professors may not exceed 10% of the tenure/tenure-track faculty at each University. 

View a list of active appointments here

Review the Collected Rule and Regulation (320.070) governing these appointments here.

Nominations

  1. Following a call for nominations in October, faculty colleagues, departments, schools/colleges, or recognized campus organizations may nominate individuals. All nominations should be submitted to each individual Dean’s office. Typically only 1-3 nominees are forwarded in any given year.
  2. By March 1, Deans submit electronic dossiers containing a narrative of nominee’s accomplishments, the nominee’s curriculum vitae, letters from nominators, and testimonial letters from UMSL peers and prominent external evaluators to Academic Affairs (see checklist below).
  3. The Provost will then ask for a recommendation from the Senate Appointments, Tenure, and Promotion (ATP) Committee for each nomination.
  4. The ATP committee will submit Curators' Professor recommendations to the Provost no later than June 1.
  5. The Provost will review each nomination and recommendations and either recommend to the Chancellor or decline to approve. Nominations not approved will be returned to the nominator with an explanation from the Provost.
  6. The Chancellor will review those nominations forwarded by the Provost and if approved, the Chancellor will forward to the President no later than July 15. The President reviews and submits nominations to the Board of Curators.

Nomination materials should include:

  1. Nomination Checklist
  2. Executive Summary - must be submitted as a Word document
  3. Nomination/Cover Letter-submit as one PDF document
    • A two-to-three-page statement prepared by the nominee or a colleague that identifies the primary contributions of the individual and provides a perspective so that non-experts in the field might understand the significant importance of the work (this statement is particularly helpful to the committee in reviewing the nominations.
  4. Detailed letter from the dean including a summary of the nominee’s accomplishments
  5. Nominee’s curriculum vitae
  6. Evaluations of candidate’s work by others knowledgeable in the field. Letters of support/reference from at least 5 and no more than 15 individuals
  7. Examples (limited to two or three) of nominee’s finest work.

All dossiers must include evidence of sustained research and/or creative activity over time and nominations for Curators' Teaching Professorships must also include evidence of teaching excellence.

All candidates selected for a Curators’ Distinguished Professor appointment after January 2005 will be appointed for a period of five years. Each five-year appointment may be renewed at the discretion of the chancellor. There is no limit to the number of extensions a Curators’ Distinguished Professor may be granted. The duration of the appointment for all Curators’ Distinguished Professors appointed prior to January 2005 is not term limited.

Please refer to the  University of Missouri System Faculty Awards & Recognition relating to Curators’ Distinguished Professorships for more details.

 

Submissions

Date

Action

October 1

Call for Nominations sent by UMAA on behalf of Board of Curators

December 1

Names of Prospective Nominees due to Deans

March 1

Nominations due to Academic Affairs from the Deans

June 1

Campus Committee completes its review

July 15

Provost/Chancellor submit recommendations to UM System

August 15

System submits nominations to the Board of Curators

September

Board of Curators reviews and approves nominations during Closed Session

 

Annual Deadline: March 1 (due the following business day when this falls on a weekend or holiday)

Nominations and supporting materials must be submitted by the Dean, who may establish an earlier deadline. Submit an electronic version as a single Word document (Executive Summary) and a single PDF (Nomination Packet) via email to halla@umsl.edu. Original hard copies of the proposal packet are  no longer required.

Name applications as follows: Lastname_Firstname_CuratorNom_Year (e.g., Smith_Sally_CuratorNom_2022).

Please contact Alice Hall at halla@umsl.edu with any questions.