Faculty Merit Award Guidelines

This page presents criteria for nominations for Faculty Merit Awards for Research, Teaching, Service, Advising, Justice, and Inclusive Excellence. Please direct any questions to Gabriella McCann, Assistant Director for Academic Administrative Operations (gmccann@sju.edu) or to Peter Norberg, Senior Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Support (norberg@sju.edu).

Previous Faculty Merit Award recipients are ineligible to be nominated within the same award category for a period of five years.

(The guidelines were developed by the Board on Faculty Research and Development, which selects the recipients of the Faculty Research and Scholarly Activity Merit Awards.) 

Full-time (tenure-track and non-tenure-track) faculty members are eligible. Nominations are solicited from the department chairs, but letters of nomination may also be submitted by departmental colleagues. In each nomination letter, please define clearly the research accomplishments of the nominee during the last three-year period (AY 2022-2023-present). Letters should contain the following:

• A critical analysis of the publications and/or creative works of the nominee.
• A statement of the impact of the faculty member’s work.
• An explanation of the conventions of multiple authorship if it applies to the nominee's field; for example, some disciplines list lead investigators first, while others simply list authors in alphabetical order.
• Any additional information that you feel would help the Board on Faculty Research and Development understand the significance of your colleague’s contributions to their field. 

Please include a copy of the nominee’s current CV with your nomination letter. The nominations will be reviewed by the Board on Faculty Research and Development for the final selection of this year’s Faculty Research Merit Awards. 

Previous recipients of the Faculty Merit Award for teaching are ineligible to be nominated for this award for a period of five years. The following faculty members are not eligible for this year’s Faculty Merit Research Awards:

• 2020-2021: Professors Balduccini, Hennes, Keller, Svalbonas, Tudor
• 2021-2022: Professors Abbas, Baskin, Close, Heasley, Kates
• 2022-2023: Professors Moran, Nikoloutsos, Schatz, Song, Vas
• 2023-2024: Professors McCleery, Peterson, Reich, Shepard, Sperandio
• 2024-2025: Professors Adejare, Bingham, Fukuoka, Gregerman, Kim

All nominations, with CVs, should be sent to Gabriella McCann in the Office of the Provost via email (gmccann@sju.edu) no later than Monday, December 15, 2025.

(Nominations are solicited from full-time (tenure-track and non-tenure-track) faculty. The guidelines were developed by the Lindback Committee in AY 2005-2006, and additions approved by members of Faculty Senate in AY 2018-2019.)

In order to make the process of selecting recipients of the teaching awards more reliable and more likely for faculty to identify colleagues of merit, the Lindback Committee suggests the following nomination process: 

• Any faculty member may nominate full-time (tenured, tenure-track, or non-tenure-track) faculty members for a teaching award. The nomination must include an in-depth letter of evaluation that explains why the nominee is worthy of the award. Normally, these letters will be 500 – 1,250 words in length. Please send the letters of nomination, along with all supporting materials, to Gabriella McCann in the Office of the Provost via email (gmccann@sju.edu) no later than Monday, December 15, 2025.
• The letter of nomination should refer to the primary indicators of teaching effectiveness, as well as any supporting indicators of teaching effectiveness as outlined in the Faculty Handbook. Where applicable to the nominee, the nomination should highlight teaching activities and innovations that promote inclusive excellence and the Jesuit educational mission of the University.
• Three representative syllabi should be submitted with every nomination. If a faculty member other than a department chair is nominating, syllabi should be requested from the department chair to maintain confidentiality in the nominating process.
• Students will be invited to nominate faculty. Students should include a well-developed rationale that offers a justification for the nomination. These nominations should not exceed 250 words.
• After receiving the nominations that have been collected by the Office of the Provost, the Lindback Committee will forward the list of final nominees to the deans and the provost to solicit their views as to the advisability of granting a Teaching Merit Award to a particular nominee. The final decision, however, rests with the Lindback Committee.
• The Lindback Committee may recommend up to 13 Teaching Merit Awards: 10 for tenure-track faculty and three for full-time non-tenure-track faculty members, with at least one of these awards directed to faculty who have demonstrated commitment to promoting inclusive excellence through their teaching. In the event that qualified nominees are not found, fewer teaching awards will be offered.
• There will be a five-year period of ineligibility after a faculty member has received a teaching award.
• Colleagues who receive the Lindback Award will receive a teaching award in the semester following the receipt of the Lindback. However, Lindback winners will be eligible for a future teaching award only under extraordinary circumstances.
• Faculty who have received Faculty Merit Teaching Awards in the last five years and who are ineligible for nomination this year are:
   
  • 2020-2021: Professors Fox, Latella, McNally, Mindell, Moran, Sullivan
  • 2021-2022: Professors Ayella, Heasley, Keller, Porth, Reich, Wang
  • 2022-2023: Professors Belfatti, Bulthuis, Erkis, Grimes, Lee-Soety, Mauri, Rao, Sit
  • 2023-2024: Professors Bentzley, Deluty, Dufresne, Garwood, Ramos, Scaletta, Shih
  • 2024-2025: Professors Bocci, Fox, Good, Lee, Liebell, Morgante Handzlik, Nikoloutsos, Ozimek, Swift

Thank you for your participation in this process that acknowledges the excellent teaching of our faculty.

(Nominations are solicited from the President of the Faculty Senate and can be submitted by any member of the Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee agreed to use the Faculty Handbook criteria for Service in AY 2009-2010.)

Members of the Faculty Senate may nominate full-time (tenure-track and non-tenure-track) faculty members to receive a Service Merit Award. Nominations should be sent to Gabriella McCann in the Office of the Provost via email (gmccann@sju.edu) and to the President of the Faculty Senate by Monday, December 15, 2025.

The Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate determines which faculty members (up to three) receive the Service Awards. To determine the awardees, the Executive Committee will use the Faculty Handbook description of primary and supporting indicators of service (page 62, July 2025).

Primary: 

• University-level committee service
• College-level committee service
• Departmental service
• Contributions to the University's mission as a Jesuit institution
• Contributions to inclusive excellence
• Positive involvement in student life and activities
• Service in a professional organization
• Community service
• Uncompensated consulting 

Supporting:  

• Membership in professional organizations
• Compensated consulting
• Participation in University functions

Recent recipients of the Service Awards: 

• 2020-2021: Professor Shenk
• 2021-2022: Professor Logio
• 2022-2023: Professor Ramos
• 2023-2024: Professors Fingerut, Patton, and Hollands
• 2024-2025: Professor Abbas

(Nominations are solicited from the deans who consult with department chairs.)

The awards for advising are based on recommendations by the deans, one award being given from each college/school. The deans should consult department chairs asking them to nominate faculty members from their departments for the Advising Award for 2025-2026. The dean will contact department chairs and indicate a due date for nominations to be received in the dean’s office. Please follow the directions from the dean’s office on how to nominate your colleagues. The dean will send the names of the awardees to Gabriella McCann in the Office of the Provost via email (gmccann@sju.edu) by Monday, December, 15, 2025.  

The nomination must include an in-depth letter of evaluation that explains why the nominee is worthy of the award. The length of these letters average 300–1,000 words. Please send the letter of nomination, along with any supporting materials, to the applicable dean’s office.

The letter of nomination should describe how the nominee has exhibited the qualities and responsibilities of effective student advising, as outlined in the Faculty Handbook, in an exemplary way. Those qualities and responsibilities include:

• Demonstrated respect for students as persons.
• Regular availability for consultation with students (office hours, etc.).
• Communication of accurate information about courses, academic requirements, post-graduate education and careers.
• Serving as an effective mentor of students in achieving their academic and professional career goals, who evokes trust and respect from students. 

Recent recipients of the Advising Awards: 

• 2020-2021: Professors Bhatt, Lipton, Okunna
• 2021-2022: Professors Green, Weidner, Riggleman
• 2022-2023: Professors Moran, Ragan, Wolbach, Sullivan
• 2023-2024: Professors Baglione, Davitt, Johnson, Latella
• 2024-2025: Professors Haar, Hentz, Ritter, Sautter, Tanzola

(Nominations are solicited from the tenure-track faculty. Guidelines were developed by the Vice President for Mission and the Academic Council on Mission and Identity in AY 2001-2002.)

The candidate for the Justice Award must be a tenure-track faculty member who has integrated academic excellence with long-standing effort to place "the faith that does justice" at the heart of their academic life. The award should be considered equivalent to other merit awards in emphasizing excellence. At the same time, this award is distinguished by virtue of its emphasis upon the excellence strived for, which is distinctively Ignatian in character. The spirit of the award is contained in the address given by Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach at the Santa Clara conference in October 2000:

In the words of GC 34, a Jesuit university must be faithful to both the noun university" and to the adjective “Jesuit.” To be a university requires dedication “to research, teaching and the various forms of service that correspond to its cultural mission.” To be Jesuit 'requires that the university act in harmony with the demands of the service of faith and promotion of justice...'

Every Jesuit academy of higher learning is called to live in a social reality . . . and to live for that social reality, to shed university intelligence upon it and to use university influence to transform it. Thus Jesuit universities have stronger and different reasons, than many other academic and research institutions, for addressing the actual world as it unjustly exists and for helping to reshape it in the light of the Gospel.

Examples of what such commitment might entail "in the concrete" are listed below: 

1. including service-learning and experiential learning in one's course work and/or modeling "being a person for others" through extracurricular community service activities;
2. regular and demonstrable application of one's disciplinary specialty to issues of justice and injustice, both in research and teaching;
3. active participation, beyond the classroom, in discussions and activities relating to issues of faith and justice among members of the community of Saint Joseph's;
4. at a personal level, living a "faithful and just life" in how one deals with colleagues, students, and staff. 

Please include a rationale for your nomination. The committee choosing the recipient of the award will include faculty representatives from the following groups: the Academic Council on Mission and Identity, the Faith-Justice Advisory Board and prior recipients.

Prior recipients who are currently among the University’s faculty who cannot be nominated again include:

Professors Bergen, Bhayroo, Boettcher, Brennan, Burkhalter, Clampet-Lundquist, Galbally, Green, Kefalas, Spinner, Terosky

Nominations should be sent to Gabriella McCann in the Office of the Provost via email (gmccann@sju.edu) by Monday, December 15, 2025. Thank you for helping us to identify a worthy recipient of this award.

(Nominations may be submitted by faculty, staff, administrators and students. These guidelines were developed by members of the Faculty Senate during AY 2018-2019; and updated during AY 2025-2026.)

Inclusion builds a culture of belonging by actively inviting the contribution and participation of all people. Inclusion is about individuals of all identities feeling welcomed within a given setting. An inclusive environment means that every person’s voice adds value.

In order to make the process of selecting recipients of the Inclusive Excellence Merit Award more reliable and more likely to identify colleagues of merit, the following nomination process is suggested:
 

• Any faculty, staff, administrator, or student may nominate a full-time faculty member. The nomination must include an in-depth letter of evaluation that provides a rationale for the nomination and explains why the nominee is worthy of the award. Normally, these letters will be approximately 1,000 words in length. Please send the letters of nomination, along with all supporting materials, to Gabriella McCann in the Office of the Provost via email (gmccann@sju.edu) no later than Monday, December 15, 2025 at 9am.
• This award recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of faculty members whose teaching, research, and/or service activities promote and support a culture that embraces and exhibits inclusive excellence.
• There will be a five-year period of ineligibility after a faculty member has received the Inclusive Excellence award. 

Examples of a commitment to inclusive excellence may entail: 

• Broadening inclusive awareness of all students through the development and implementation of curricular, mentoring, advising, and/or other academic programs.
• Developing, implementing, and/or participating in programs that advance the education and learning of prospective and current students from a diversity of backgrounds.
• Developing, implementing, and/or participating in programs and activities that create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for people from a diversity of backgrounds.
• Developing and disseminating research that examine the scientific, social, and cultural contexts that impact our understanding of inclusive excellence.
• Developing, implementing, and/or demonstrating a clear, ongoing commitment to support activities and programs that advance inclusive excellence within the University, within professional groups, and/or within the community-at-large. 

The Inclusive Excellence Awards Committee, comprised of four members of the full-time faculty and with representation from the College/Schools, may select up to two faculty members for Faculty Merit Inclusive Excellence Awards.

Recent Recipients of the Inclusive Excellence Merit Award:

• 2020-2021: Professor Tryce
• 2021-2022: Professor Lockridge
• 2022-2023: Professors Rhett-Davis and Ramos
• 2023-2024: Professor Corcoran
• 2024-2025: Professors Garcia and Lemisch

The Bene Merenti medal is awarded to tenured members of the faculty who have completed 25 years of full-time service to Saint Joseph's University.