University of North Texas 
UNT Faculty Awards
UNT faculty play a critical role in helping the university achieve its goals, vision
and mission. As educators, researchers, mentors and leaders, our world-class faculty
members are the key to our students’ success — not just while they’re enrolled at
UNT but for the rest of their lives.
The following awards recognize faculty members whose excellence in teaching, research, scholarship and service brings distinction to the university and their fields. These honors — many of which are presented during the annual Salute to Faculty Excellence Awards Celebration — are a way to show our appreciation for the talented and dedicated faculty members who make UNT shine.
UNT Foundation Awards
The UNT Foundation Eminent Faculty Award
Recognizes a tenured faculty member at the rank of professor, who has made outstanding
and sustained contributions to scholarly-creative activity, teaching, and service
and has served as an inspiration to the UNT community. This award is one of the university's
highest faculty honors and is given by the UNT Foundation to one full-time faculty
member.
The UNT Foundation Faculty Leadership Award
Recognizes a full-time faculty member who significantly impacts the academic enterprise
of the university through their leadership and service. The award recipient demonstrates
a high degree of professionalism, is committed to the strategic mission of the university
and encourages others to support and work toward the public good through innovative
initiatives.
The UNT Foundation Community Engagement Award
Recognizes a full-time faculty member whose career is marked by sustained activities
that systematically and effectively advance mutual university-community engagement,
successfully address important community issues through collaborative initiatives,
and create intellectual products respected by peers within and beyond the academy.
The UNT Foundation Outstanding Lecturer Award
Recognizes a lecturer, who has made outstanding and sustained contributions to scholarly-creative
activity, teaching, and service and has served as an inspiration to the UNT community.
This award is one of the university's highest faculty honors and is given by the UNT
Foundation to one full-time faculty member at any rank of lecturer.
Office of the Provost Awards
Adjunct Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence
Recognizes a part-time faculty member who exemplifies the highest quality of teaching
and mentorship of students.
Presidential Early Career Professorship Award
Recognizes an assistant professor during their probationary period who has an outstanding
record of research, scholarship or creative activity and whose work shows the potential
to be transformative.
Ulys & Vera Knight Mentor Awards
Recognize full-time faculty members who demonstrate sustained excellence in mentoring
undergraduate students, graduate students and/or other faculty members. Mentoring
may include support and guidance in the areas of teaching, research, service, academic
achievement and/or professional development.
University Distinguished Teaching Professorship
Recognizes tenured faculty at the rank of associate professor or professor who perform
outstanding teaching, teach at the introductory levels of their disciplines and promote
the continuous development of teaching excellence among their colleagues in the UNT
community.
University Distinguished Research Professorship
Recognizes tenured faculty members at the rank of professor who have achieved a truly
exceptional record of creative activities or research productivity and who demonstrate
a record of continued extraordinary productivity.
Regents Professorship
Recognizes tenured faculty at the rank of professor who have performed outstanding
teaching, research and service to the profession, and who have achieved a high level
of national and international recognition.
Teaching Awards
CLEAR Outstanding Online Course Award
Recognizes excellence in the design of online courses and the facilitation of the
instructional experience using educational technology.
'Fessor Graham Award
Named for the late Professor Floyd Graham, this award is presented to faculty member
at the rank of professor for outstanding and unselfish service to students. The ‘Fessor
Graham Award is the highest honor given by the student body. A student committee selects
the ‘Fessor Graham recipient and an additional five Honor Professor award recipients.
J.H. Shelton Excellence in Teaching Award
Named for UNT alumnus Joe Houston Shelton, this award recognizes a full-time faculty
member for a record of outstanding teaching at UNT for at least a five-year period.
UNT Piper Professor Nominee
The prestigious Piper Professor Award honors 10 professors from throughout Texas for
their dedication to the teaching profession and superior teaching ability at the college
level. Institutions may submit only one nomination each year.
President's Council Teaching Award
Recognizes a full-time faculty member for a record of teaching excellence at UNT for
at least a five-year period.
Research Awards
Creative Impact Award
Given to a full-time faculty member whose publications, performances, or exhibitions
in the literary or creative arts have had the greatest societal impact.
Early Career Award for Research and Creativity
Given to a full-time faculty member within their first 10 years in a full-time appointment
whose research accomplishments or creative endeavors have been outstanding and whose
scholarly/creative products are considered to have had high impact in the faculty
member's discipline and/or on society.
Decker Scholar Award
Recognizes tenure-track and tenured faculty members in science and technology who
demonstrate outstanding research in the natural sciences, computational sciences,
or technology at the University of North Texas.
Research Leadership Award
Given to a full-time faculty member whose research excellence and leadership at UNT
have made a substantial contribution to their discipline and achieved national and/or
international recognition.
Teacher Scholar Award
Honors mid-career faculty members who demonstrate excellence in research or creative
productivity while also excelling as a teacher.
Toulouse Scholar Award
Named in honor of the distinguished contributions of Robert B. Toulouse, this award
recognizes the outstanding teaching and scholarly or creative achievements of a full-time,
tenured member of the graduate faculty.
Service Awards
Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Education
Honors an individual in the university community with a minimum of six to eight years
at UNT who has an exemplary record of distinguished, meritorious, and longstanding
contributions to international education and internationalization at UNT.
Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Education
Honors an individual in the university community with a minimum of two years and maximum
of five years at UNT who has made distinguished contributions to international education
and internationalization at UNT.
Outstanding Library Faculty Award
Recognizes a library faculty member who has made significant and sustained contributions
to the library, university or profession as evidenced by the quality of their librarianship,
scholarly-creative activities or service activities.
President's Council University Service Award
Established to recognize a full-time faculty member for a record of teaching excellence
at UNT for at least a five-year period.
UNT Special Recognition Award
Honors an extraordinary student, faculty or staff member (or group) who has contributed
momentous, unique talent or service to the university and cultivated UNT pride. This
award is given where no usual award or recognition is available due to unique quality
of the contributions. The president selects the recipients and presents the awards
as the occasion arises. This award will be presented at the Staff Appreciation Luncheon
or Salute to Faculty Excellence Dinner or Honor's Day program depending on the respective
recipient.
Bob Rogers Service and Community Engagement Award
Given by the Office of the President to a faculty or staff member whose talent, dedication,
passion and community service enhances both UNT and the greater community and helps
them maintain strong bonds. The distinct and required characteristic of the recipient
is a genuine attitude of selfless service, kindness and joy embodied by the late Bob
Rogers.
SFE Award Selection Committees
The awards celebrated at the annual Salute to Faculty Excellence are sponsored by different units, each using established criteria aligned with the award’s purpose and goals. Committee members evaluate each applicant’s materials independently and then meet to discuss their assessments, ensuring a fair and transparent review process. Final selections are based on the quality, impact, and alignment of the applicant’s achievements with the award criteria. Each award description should detail these selection criteria. Please contact the sponsoring unit for additional details on the award criteria.
For the Provost's Awards celebrated at SFE, the award selection committee members are not made public but are shared with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee upon request. Keeping the membership of an award selection committee confidential helps ensure the integrity, fairness, and independence of the review process, allowing members to engage in open and honest discussions during deliberations. Maintaining privacy also helps preserve trust in the process and ensures decisions are made solely on the merits of the applications and the established award criteria.
In addition to the committee membership stipulated by the Eminent Professorship Policy, the Provost Awards selection committees comprise faculty members recommended by the Provost's Office, the Faculty Senate, and the Division of Research and Innovation. Some teaching-oriented awards also invite members from student organizations, such as the Graduate Student Council and the Student Government Association, to serve on the selection committees.