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UB Distinguished Professor Guidelines

Criteria

A candidate for designation as a UB Distinguished Professor must hold the rank of Full Professor before being nominated. The candidate must have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation as an intellectual or creative leader within his or her chosen field through significant contributions to the research/scholarly literature; or, through artistic performance or achievement in the case of the fine arts. The quality of the research/scholarship, creative activity, or artistic performance must be unambiguous and unequivocal. Nothing less than excellence is acceptable for this designation. In addition, such excellence must not only have been demonstrated; it must be expected to continue.

Designation as a UB Distinguished Professor should be considered as an award and not a rank. It confers an in-house title, but not an official state title. This recognition is for a maximum period of seven years. If a UB Distinguished Professor receives a promotion to the rank of SUNY Distinguished Professor, then that faculty member relinquishes the title of UB Distinguished Professor for the remainder of the seven-year maximum term.

In making your nominations, please consider candidates that reflect the full range of faculty perspectives and composition across the university.

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UB Distinguished Professor Guidelines PDF

Allocation

Annually, the Office of Faculty Affairs will communicate with each academic unit about the number of nominations that unit may submit for consideration.

Dossier Preparation

Following the Dean's consultation with faculty members of a nominee's Department, the Dean requests a dossier be prepared for each nominee. The dossier should include:

  • Dean's letter of support,
  • Chair's letter,
  • Candidate's current CV,
  • A Personal Transaction Summary Form indicating an in-house title of UB Distinguished Professor with an effective date of Sept. 1, of the following academic year,
  • A minimum of four (4) external letters from distinguished figures in the candidate's field who are at peer institutions. These letters should be from disinterested individuals, i.e., persons who have nothing to gain or lose with regard to the ultimate decision concerning the candidate,
  • Biosketches, not full vitae, of all external evaluators should be included.

The preparation of the dossier and its review should be conducted without the knowledge of the candidate and with the highest degree of confidentiality so that a candidate will not experience any negative reaction should the outcome not be positive.

Review Process

The Department Chair should forward the dossier to the Dean along with their recommendation. The dossier should be reviewed at the School level, and the Dean should submit one PDF dossier to the Office of Faculty Affairs at facultyaffairs@buffalo.edu, along with their recommendation. Upon receipt of the dossier in the Provost Office, the nomination will be reviewed by the Distinguished Series/Chancellor's Awards Selection Committee who will, in turn, make its recommendation to the Provost. The Provost will then make a recommendation to the President, whose decision will be final.