Faculty Awards and Recognition

The Outstanding Administrator Award is given in recognition of demonstrated excellence in administrative activities within the University.

Accomplishments will have had significant impact on students, their fields, the University, and/or the community at large.

The Outstanding Advisor Award is given to a faculty advisor who enhances student experiences through innovative activities outside of the classroom.

Outstanding advising activities may include academic or career advising, work with student groups, unique projects, and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate research or creative activities.

The Outstanding Creative Endeavor Award is given in recognition of contributions to the University community in the creative arts.

This includes:

• dance
• design arts
• architecture
• landscape architecture
• folk arts
• literature
• media
• music
• theater
• visual arts

Nominees should have outstanding cumulative creative and artistic achievement while employed at Ball State University. Unusual single or one-time contributions are also considered and nominees may be individuals or teams.

The Outstanding Faculty Award is given in recognition of demonstrated composite excellence in teaching, scholarly or creative productivity, and service by a faculty member who has an academic record at Ball State University of more than five years.

Faculty who have received the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award in the past four years are not eligible. The award is given on the basis of cumulative achievement since coming to Ball State University.

The Outstanding Faculty Service Award is given in recognition of exceptional professional service, excluding administrative service.

Service may be to the department, college, University, profession, community, or a combination thereof.

The Outstanding Junior Faculty Award is given in recognition of demonstrated composite excellence in teaching, scholarly or creative productivity, and service by a faculty member beginning an academic career, who has been at Ball State University for no more than five years.

The award is given on the basis of cumulative achievement since coming to Ball State University.

The Outstanding Research Award is given to an individual faculty member in recognition of outstanding research achievement as cumulative work or a noteworthy single contribution.

All nominees will have evidence of exemplary scholarly productivity over a minimum of five calendar years at Ball State University.

Research impact should be at a national or international scale as evidenced by citations, professional awards or recognition, funded grants or contracts, and letters of support.

The Outstanding Teaching Award is given in recognition of excellence in teaching inclusive of the highest standards of pedagogy, creativity, or innovation in the classroom and curricula.

Nominees should have demonstrated leadership in teaching methodologies and advancement of the scholarship of teaching.

The Lawhead Award in General Education is presented annually and is based on teaching evaluations, contribution to the University Core Curriculum, freshmen activities, service to the community, and support from faculty and students. 

This award was established courtesy of gifts from Victor Lawhead, former dean of Ball State's undergraduate programs, and his wife, Doris Lawhead, a former academic adviser.

The Lawhead Award nomination deadline has been extended to February 28, 2025.

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This award honors a full-time faculty member who has proven to be the most dedicated to teaching extended education courses at off-campus distance education sites.

The Rawlings Award nomination deadline has been extended to Friday, March 7, 2025.

The award was named after Joseph Rawlings, dean emeritus of the Division of Online and Strategic Learning. Rawlings worked nearly 20 years to create and develop the university's distance learning program.

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