Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Philip Mauceri has set forth an initiative to “do a better job recognizing and promoting the great work being done on campus by our faculty,” in the form of four campus-wide awards.
Mauceri said the Provost Awards for Faculty Excellence will recognize faculty dedication in the areas of teaching, scholarship/creative activity and service at a college level. The awards include the Provost Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activity, Provost Award for Teaching Excellence, Provost Award for Outstanding Service and Outstanding Probationary Faculty Award.
Mauceri said although some schools have awards for faculty activities, and the SUNY system recognizes faculty achievements through the Chancellor Awards, he was surprised when he arrived on campus to see that New Paltz did not have campus-wide awards to recognize faculty achievements.
The strength of the SUNY New Paltz community, Mauceri said, is the ability of the faculty to help students better understand themselves and the world in ways that challenge them and inspire them.
“We have a very dedicated faculty at New Paltz who spend a good deal of time thinking about the most effective ways to enhance student learning,” Mauceri said.
He said that as “teacher-scholars,” faculty understand the importance of engaging in research and various activities not just to advance in their fields, but to inform their teaching and bring the enthusiasm generated by scholarly discovery and creativity into the classroom.
The awards were also created to recognize faculty contributions not only to their department or school, but to the entire campus community.
“Many of our faculty also share their knowledge and experiences with regional communities and businesses to help the local economy and promote changes that improve people’s lives,” Mauceri said. “I think these successes deserve wider recognition.”
Dean of the School of Business Hadi Salavitabar said it is always a great idea to recognize the colleagues that perform beyond their duties to educate, conduct research, contribute to their respective disciplines and serve the community.
Mauceri is currently in the process of gathering a committee and is accepting nominations from each department. For this first year, he said he asked all deans to submit the name of a faculty member from their school to serve on the selection committee, and that in subsequent years award recipients will serve on a Provost Awards Committee to select the new winners.
“I hope to have the members of the initial committee selected before the end of the month, and a call for award nominations go out sometime in January,” he said. “I would like to make these awards during the last faculty meeting of the academic year, in April.”