University of Michigan leaders are encouraging community members across the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses to nominate faculty members who have demonstrated a commitment to public impact for the president’s awards for public engagement.
Launched in 2017, the President’s Award for National and State Leadership and the President’s Award for Public Impact aim to celebrate faculty public engagement at U-M.
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The award for national and state leadership honors an individual who has held leadership and service roles in major national, state, local or community capacities. The recipient will have contributed to the health, resilience and prosperity of the nation, state and society at large, or support a safe global environment.
Aaron Dworkin, professor of music in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, received last year’s award for his work with aspiring artists, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and pushing the boundaries of traditional arts education, as well as leadership and entrepreneurship.
The award for public impact honors an individual who has offered their academic research and expertise in tangible service of a major public sector challenge. The recipient will have actively addressed significant challenges in society and have used their academic capacity and expertise to combat such threats, in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders.
Christian Sandvig, the H. Marshall McLuhan Collegiate Professor of Digital Media and professor of information in the School of Information, received the award last year for the impact of his campaign to change federal law about computers, freeing researchers and journalists to investigate the dangers of social media and artificial intelligence.
Sandvig is also a professor of communication and media, and in the Digital Studies Institute at LSA; and a professor of art and design in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.
The awards are part of the university’s greater institutional effort to promote and support faculty public engagement, an initiative President Santa J. Ono said aims to help scholars connect their expertise with public groups and showcase the societal value of university research.
“Through their scholarship, leadership and service, our faculty change lives and impact our world. Whether advancing environmental sustainability, confronting injustice and inequity, pushing the boundaries of medicine, or promoting arts and creativity, their dedication exemplifies our longstanding commitment to serving the public and lifting our society,” Ono said.
The nomination deadline for both awards is Dec. 6.
Awardees will be recommended to the president by a committee, appointed by Ono, that includes members of the faculty, the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of Government Relations.
The award is open to tenured and tenure-track faculty, research faculty, clinical instructional faculty, librarians, archivists, and curators across all U-M campuses, schools, colleges and units. Individuals at all career stages are eligible.
