Awards Information

Nomination Deadline: February 3, 2025


Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Awards

The awards for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching are presented annually to faculty members who stimulate the curiosity of students by motivating and challenging them. These awards are sponsored by the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System.

Exceptional Achievement in Community Engaged Learning Awards

The Exceptional Achievement in Community Engaged Learning Awards are presented each year by TILT to a student, an instructor, and a community partner who demonstrate remarkable contributions to Community Engaged and Service-Learning programs and to university and community partnerships.

Inclusive Excellence Award

The Inclusive Excellence Award is provided annually by the Office for Inclusive Excellence and the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President to recognize faculty and staff who support a culture of inclusive excellence exemplified by Colorado State University’s Principles of Community. This award serves to highlight and reward faculty and staff who go above and beyond the standard expectations for employees with similar responsibilities.

Jack E. Cermak Advising Award

The Jack E. Cermak Advising Award recognizes excellence in academic advising. Jack E. Cermak was a Professor in Civil Engineering who endowed this award because of his strong belief in the value of academic advising.

Kevin Ann Oltjenbruns Award for Outstanding Leadership

This award serves to highlight and reward the extraordinary efforts of truly outstanding CSU faculty and staff who through their leadership and mentoring/advising go above and beyond the standard expectations for employees with similar responsibilities.

Monfort Professor

The Monfort Family Foundation established the Monfort Professors Program to support early-career faculty at CSU with unrestricted support for advancing their teaching, research, creative artistry and/or scholarship. Each year, a faculty member is selected as a Monfort Professor by a committee appointed by the Provost and Executive Vice President. They retain this designation for two years and receive $100,000 in research support.

N. Preston Davis Award for Instructional Innovation

This award recognition was instituted in 1992 upon the retirement of N. Preston Davis, who served the CSU community creatively and loyally for over four decades. His contributions were many and focused on instructional innovation. This award, which recognizes technology-related instructional innovation or the significant encouragement of such innovation, is presented annually by TILT to up to two faculty members. A third award may be granted to a unit within the University for a submission that the committee deems exemplary.

Oliver P. Pennock Distinguished Service Award

Oliver P. Pennock Distinguished Service Awards recognize meritorious and outstanding achievement over at least five years by full-time members of the academic faculty, administrative professional staff, and state classified staff. The award program was established as a tribute to Professor Pennock, who served as a distinguished professor of Civil Engineering in the 1920s.

Provost & Executive Vice President’s Faculty Excellence Awards

The Provost and Executive Vice President and the Council of Chairs and Heads are pleased to invite nominations for a series of annual awards to recognize the impact of early- to mid-career CSU faculty especially deserving of special acknowledgment. The Provost & EVP’s Faculty Excellence Awards consist of the Lincoln Laureate, 14’er, Teaching Scholar, and Research Scholar.

University Distinguished Teaching Scholars (UDTS)

Those faculty members appointed as University Distinguished Teaching Scholars have records of performance ranking them among the most outstanding teachers and educators in their disciplines, as reflected by their accomplishments as both scholars and teachers, lending talents and expertise to teaching-related projects and scholarship at Colorado State. University Distinguished Teaching Scholars may have received national and international acclaim in recognition of outstanding achievement. Because University Distinguished Teaching Scholars are a select group, nominations are not sought every year.

*The call for nominations for awards will be shared with the campus community each fall, and the deadline for nominations is the first business day in February (Feb. 3, 2025).

Alternate Nomination Deadlines


University Distinguished Professors (UDP)

The highest academic recognition awarded by the University, the title of University Distinguished Professor is bestowed upon a small number of full professors at any one time on the basis of outstanding scholarship and achievement. Professors receiving this title hold the distinction for the duration of their association with Colorado State University.

The purposes of the University Distinguished Professorships are 1) to confer honor upon faculty members for outstanding scholarship and 2) to symbolize the continuing commitment of Colorado State University to the pursuit of excellence. Because University Distinguished Professors are a select group, nominations are not sought every year.

Nominations for UDP are not being accepted at this time.

Gordon and Joan Bishop Professorship

The Gordon and Joan Bishop Professorship is a Universitywide endowed professorship established by an anonymous donor who graduated from Colorado State University. The Bishop Professorship awards faculty in any discipline at CSU who demonstrate extraordinary contributions and excellence in all three areas of the university’s mission: teaching, research, and outreach/engagement. 

The next call for nominations is expected to be 2025-26.

Community Engagement Scholarship Awards

The CSU Community Engagement Scholarship Awards, jointly established by the Office of the Provost and Office of Engagement and Extension, are conferred annually in recognition of exemplary engaged scholarship by CSU faculty or academic staff members and their community partner(s).

Faculty Council Harry Rosenberg Award

An endowment was established in 2016 by Dr. Sue Davis Pendell (4th Faculty Council Chair) in honor of Dr. Harry Rosenberg, the first elected chair of Faculty Council and a faculty member in the Department of History. Dr. Pendell, (Department of Speech Communications) is a strong supporter of shared faculty governance. Annually, one faculty member who has made significant contributions to Faculty Council will be recognized for the award. A monetary award and a special plaque will be presented to the award winner by the Chair of Faculty Council at a Faculty Council meeting during the Spring term.

The Vice Chair of Faculty Council will put out the call for nominations at the February Faculty Council Meeting, with a deadline in March.