Research and Creative Activity (RCA) Awards

Awarded to a tenure or career-track faculty member who has demonstrated the potential to contribute outstanding research and scholarship to their discipline. Nominees are eligible provided they have not yet been evaluated for their first major promotion at the University and should be within the first five years of their appointment at the University.

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of their CV
• A summary statement describing their research, creative and artistic/or scholarly activities and notable accomplishments (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters of support, sent directly by the supporters to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• The CV and summary statement should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Awarded to a tenure or career-track faculty member who has demonstrated the potential to contribute outstanding artistic scholarship or creative activities to their discipline. Nominees are eligible provided they have not yet been evaluated for their first major promotion at the University and should be within the first five years of their appointment at the University.

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of their CV
• A summary statement describing their research, creative and artistic/or scholarly activities and notable accomplishments (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters of support, sent directly by the supporters to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• The CV and summary statement should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu.

Awarded to a graduate student who has displayed excellence in research and scholarship, and demonstrated significant potential for further success in their discipline.

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of their CV
• Transcripts of graduate academic performance through 12/31/2025 (unofficial or official)
• A summary statement describing their research, creative and artistic/or scholarly accomplishments (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Letter from advisor or mentor, sent directly by the advisor or mentor to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• The CV, transcripts, and summary statement should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Awarded to a graduate student who has displayed excellence in artistic scholarship or creative activities, and demonstrated significant potential for further success in their discipline.

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of their CV
• Transcripts of graduate academic performance through 12/31/2025 (unofficial or official)
• A summary statement describing their research, creative and artistic/or scholarly accomplishments (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Letter from advisor or mentor, sent directly by the advisor or mentor to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• The CV, transcripts, and summary statement should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Awarded to a faculty member whose mentoring of graduate students is demonstrated by effective approaches, a clear time commitment and positive student outcomes.

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of their CV
• Table listing graduate students mentored, including current status
• A summary statement describing their mentoring activities and philosophy or approaches (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters from current or past students, sent directly by the students to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• The CV, student mentoring table, and summary statement should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Awarded to a faculty member whose mentoring of graduate students is demonstrated by effective approaches, a clear time commitment and positive student outcomes. 

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of their CV
• Table listing graduate students mentored, including current status
• A summary statement describing their mentoring activities and philosophy or approaches (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters from current or past students, sent directly by the students to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• The CV, student mentoring table, and summary statement should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Awarded to a faculty member whose mentoring of undergraduate students is demonstrated by effective approaches, a clear time commitment, and positive student outcomes. Nominations of previous recipients of this award may be considered provided five years or more have passed since the initial recognition.

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of their CV
• Table listing students mentored (undergraduates & post-baccalaureate only, not graduate students), including current status
• A summary statement describing their mentoring activities and philosophy or approaches (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters from current or past students, sent directly by the students to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• The CV, student mentoring table, and 1-2 page statement should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Awarded to a faculty member whose mentoring of undergraduate students is demonstrated by effective approaches, a clear time commitment, and positive student outcomes. Nominations of previous recipients of this award may be considered provided five years or more have passed since the initial recognition. 

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of their CV
• Table listing students mentored (undergraduates & post-baccalaureate only, not graduate students), including current status
• A summary statement describing their mentoring activities and philosophy or approaches (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters from current or past students, sent directly by the students to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• The CV, student mentoring table, and 1-2 page statement should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Nominees for the NAU Award for Most Significant Research/Scholarly Work include an NAU employee (or group of employees) who have produced a research or scholarly work—an article, book or book chapter, video, monograph, etc.—that has had or is anticipated to have a significant impact in the discipline. While individuals or groups are nominated for this category, the emphasis is on the scholarly work itself, which must have been first published within three years of the date of nomination.

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of the publication if feasible (if it is available electronically, provide the link to a web-based version of the publication), and/or a photo-representation/recording of the work (web links to visual/audio representations of the work are preferred, wherever possible)
• List of the NAU employees with titles who participated in the creation of the work
• A summary statement describing the scholarly innovation and/or impact the work has had or is anticipated to have in the discipline. The statements should not focus on the professional accomplishments of the nominee(s). (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters from disciplinary scholars inside or outside of NAU, sent directly by the disciplinary scholars to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Nominees for the NAU Award for Most Significant Artistic/Creative Work include an NAU employee (or group of employees) who have produced a creative or artistic work—a performance, sculpture, novel or book, composition, exhibit, etc.—that demonstrates creative innovation and impact in the discipline. While individuals or groups are nominated for this category, the emphasis is on the creative work itself, which must have been first presented within three years of the date of nomination.

Nominees should submit:

• Copy of the publication if feasible (if it is available electronically, provide the link to a web-based version of the publication), and/or a photo-representation/recording of the work (web links to visual/audio representations of the work are preferred, wherever possible)
• List of the NAU employees with titles who participated in the creation of the work
• A summary statement describing the innovation and/or impact the work has had or is anticipated to have in the discipline. The statements should not focus on the professional accomplishments of the nominee(s). (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters from disciplinary scholars inside or outside of NAU, sent directly by the disciplinary scholars to ovpr-awards@nau.edu
• All items listed above (excluding the letters from disciplinary scholars) should be combined into one PDF document and emailed to ovpr-awards@nau.edu

Awarded to an NAU employee (or group of employees) who performs research, scholarly work or creative activities that strengthens and respectfully engages one or more communities served by NAU. Nominations for this award will be evaluated based on demonstrated positive impact of work occurring within three years of the date of nomination.

Nominees should submit:

• A summary statement describing their work, including a description of the positive impact(s) of the work for the engaged community. (suggested 1-2 pages)
• Copies of any publications that resulted from this work; this may include scholarly publications by the nominee and/or articles written about the nominee’s work (i.e., earned media products)
• Optional: Up to 3 letters of support from disciplinary scholars inside or outside of NAU and/or from members of the community engaged by the work, sent directly by the supporters to ovpr-awards@nau.edu