Office of the Provost

Honors & Awards

The Office of the Provost oversees the awarding of University awards and degrees. Any member of the University community is welcome to nominate deserving individuals for awards and honorary degrees. For information regarding school-based honors and awards, please visit the individual school's website.

Questions about the nomination and selection process should be directed to .

Nominations for 2010 Commencement honorary degrees were due September 15, 2009.

Nominations for other honors to be awarded at the 2010 Commencement ceremonies are due February 1, 2010.

Honorary Degrees

The University grants honorary degrees to those of great scholarly, artistic, public service, and/or philanthropic accomplishment. (Individuals currently in service to the University are ineligible for honorary degrees.) All honorary degree nominations go to the Faculty Committee on Honorary Degrees, the President, and the Board of Trustees for approval. Honorary degrees are typically awarded during University ceremonies, such as Commencement or a dean's investiture, or at a special concert at the Eastman Theatre.

• List of past Honorary Degree Recipients, 1851-present

Additional Awards

• Eastman Medal — The Eastman Medal is named for George Eastman, the University's major donor and one of the nation's great benefactors to higher education. The Medal recognizes individuals who, through their outstanding achievement and dedicated service, embody the high ideals for which the University stands. The Eastman Medal was awarded for the first time in 2000 as part of the University's sesquicentennial celebration. The Provost and President make the final decision for this award based upon the nominations they receive from the University community. Questions about the Eastman Medal should be directed to .

• Hutchison Medal — The University awards the Charles Force Hutchison and Marjorie Smith Hutchison Medal to an alumnus or alumna in recognition of outstanding achievement and notable service to the community, state, or nation. All Hutchison Medal nominations must be approved by the President. The President confers the Medal during Commencement exercises or other University events. Questions about the Hutchison Medal should be directed to .

• Rochester Distinguished Scholar — This award recognizes graduate alumni who have gone on to distinguished careers in academia, industry, government, the arts, etc. An individual is eligible if he or she has a Ph.D. from the University. The Provost will make the final decision for this award, which will be presented at the University doctoral commencement ceremony. Questions about the Distinguished Scholar award should be directed to .

• Frederick Douglass Medal — Created in 2008, the Frederick Douglass Medal is awarded by the University of Rochester and its Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies to acknowledge both scholarship and civic engagement that honor the Douglass legacy. Questions about the Douglass Medal should be directed to .

• Curtis Faculty Teaching Awards
  • G. Graydon Curtis ’58 and Jane W. Curtis Award — In honor of Professor Ralph Helmkamp, this award is for a nontenured faculty member of the River Campus. To use the donor’s words: “Recognizing that many tenured faculty members excel in both teaching and research, it is my expectation that this annual award directed exclusively to the nontenured faculty, will encourage both interest in and excellence in instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels.” The faculty member selected will be honored with a citation at commencement and will receive a monetary award. Questions about Curtis Awards should be directed to .
    
    
  • Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching — Awarded only within schools with undergraduate programs, the E.P. Curtis Award is a distinguished teaching prize awarded to the best faculty members. Having a record of classroom excellence usually developed over at least eight years of instruction, candidates should have also demonstrated their readiness to help less experienced or less successful teachers and teaching assistants master their craft. The faculty member selected will be honored with a citation at commencement and will receive a monetary award. Questions about the Curtis Award should be directed to .
    
    
  • 2009 Curtis Awards Memo

• William H. Riker University Award for Graduate Teaching — This annual award recognizes a faculty member who has excelled in graduate instruction, particularly in the University's doctoral programs. Presented at the Doctoral Commencement Ceremony each May, this award also carries a monetary award. For information regarding this award, contact Pat McLane, Assistant to the University Dean of Graduate Studies, at pmclane@rochester.edu or (585) 275-9093.

• Lifetime Achievement in Graduate Education Award -- This award commemorates the distinguished careers of University of Rochester faculty members who have, throughout a significant portion of their career, provided outstanding guidance and mentorship to doctoral students at the University, and whose students have in turn gone on to make important contributions in scholarship, business, or government that flow from their doctoral studies. This award is presented at the Doctoral Commencement Ceremony each May. For more information, contact Pat McLane, Assistant to the University Dean of Graduate Studies, at pmclane@rochester.edu or (585) 275-9093.

• Goergen Awards — Awarded for excellence in teaching and significant contributions to undergraduate learning in the College. For information regarding this award, contact Myra Henry in the College Dean's Office, (585) 273-5001.

• Edward Peck Curtis Awards for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student — To encourage excellence in the work of graduate students who assist in undergraduate teaching. Any full-time graduate student in the University who assists in teaching undergraduates is eligible; nominees are expected to have had significant face-to-face interaction with undergraduate students in the classroom or laboratory. The awards will be made by the Vice Provost & University Dean of Graduate Studies based on nominations from individual departments or undergraduate student groups. Up to five awards may be made each year. Questions about this award should be sent to Pat McLane, Assistant to the University Dean of Graduate Studies, at pmclane@rochester.edu or (585) 275-9093.