Guidelines for Nomination of Distinguished Faculty

• The following summarizes the eligibility information and nomination portfolio guidelines from SUNY System Administration.

• The full SUNY guidelines should also be consulted when compiling a portfolio.

Eligibility guidelines from SUNY System Administration

Submission Process

• An electronic copy of the entire portfolio must be submitted using one of the four MachForms no later than August 24, 2026 by 5 pm for an Academic Year 2026-27 submission. Four MachForms, one per Distinguished Faculty rank, will be used to submit nomination materials:
  • Distinguished Librarian
  • Distinguished Professor
  • Distinguished Service Professor
  • Distinguished Teaching Professor
• The portfolio will be reviewed by the campus committee, Provost, and President. Nominators will be notified after the campus review process has been completed no later than October 13, 2026.

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Items that must be included in the nomination portfolio include:

1. Significant Accomplishment (Word format) – Summarize in a single sentence the nominee’s most significant accomplishment, e.g., “They won a Nobel Prize for their contributions in revolutionizing our understanding of particle physics.”

2. Nomination Abstract (Word format) – Please provide three or four sentences, of no more than 200 words, summarizing for a general audience the importance of their work and their main accomplishments. In these sentences, use strong, specific details and include information about significant awards. This abstract should provide a clear, thematic picture that describes the candidate’s main accomplishments. It should highlight why the candidate has been nominated to the rank of DL, DP, DSP or DTP, and may be taken from other parts of the nomination package. If the candidate is an awardee, this abstract may be used for press releases or testimonials.

3. Curriculum Vitae (PDF format) - An up-to-date and moderately comprehensive vitae that should have separate sections for educational background, academic/visiting appointments, honors and awards received, national academy memberships, publications, external funding, invited/keynote presentations, other presentations, teaching accomplishments (including lists of graduate dissertations, theses and research directed and other mentoring), and service contributions to the University, the community, and the profession (work with learned societies, editorial boards, conferences organized, and other relevant activities). Entries for awards should indicate significance of each item. Again, the review committees will be paying special attention to the nominee’s work in the period after their promotion to full Professor. Specific data must include the date of the last update, the candidate’s department, the date of appointment to the SUNY system, highest rank attained and date of appointment to that rank.

   • Note for Distinguished Professor Portfolios – Articles in refereed and non-refereed journals must be clearly distinguished from one another and, preferably, listed separately with full pagination and ordered by date of publication. Books should be listed separately from articles. Publications with multiple authors should indicate the senior author, if there is one, either by a note at the beginning of the publications list (if senior author position is consistent throughout) or by an asterisk indicating the senior author in each entry. External funding entries should indicate agency, amount, dates, and, if there are multiple named investigators, which is the principal investigator (PI).

   • Note for Distinguished Service Professor Portfolios - Relevant professional and community service must be detailed.

4. Internal Letters of Recommendation (PDF Format) – In addition to the President’s Letter of Endorsement, five letters are required, including one from the Provost (Chief Academic Officer) and one from the candidate’s Dean/Division Head. Additional recommended letters include candidate’s Chair, APT Committee, and letters from those holding Distinguished rank are strongly encouraged. Where possible, the letters should be on letterhead, signed, and include a recent date.

   • All internal letters must be included in the portfolio submitted to CELT. Nominators need to contact the Provost Office directly for this letter and allow two weeks. The President’s letter will be added to the portfolio if the nomination is approved. The letters should provide detailed information and the specific rationale – preferably in laymen’s terms – for the candidate’s nomination and justification for appointment.

   • Note for Distinguished Teaching Professor Portfolios– At least two of these letters should be from current students attesting to the candidate’s teaching ability, dedication and service to students.

5. External Letters of Recommendation (PDF Format) – Five current external letters of recommendation are needed to validate the stature of the candidate proposed for appointment to all Distinguished Ranks. The letters should be from diverse areas of the nominee’s career, where possible. In other words, ideally, the letters should not be written by individuals who are all affiliated with one institution or who are only aware of one aspect of the nominee’s work. Emeritus faculty from the same institution as the nominee are not considered to be external letters. Where possible, the letters should be on letterhead, be signed, and include a recent date.

   • Note for Distinguished Professor – These letters should be from individuals whose own status or accomplishment is appropriate to a promotion at this level. They should be persons sufficiently acquainted with both the candidate’s work and the profession to be able to write an informed letter specifically locating the candidate’s standing in and contribution to the discipline, and explaining the significance of the candidate’s awards and honors. The letters should, however, be more than a review of the nominee’s CV. Letter writers should be disinterested, that is, generally individuals who have not collaborated, co-authored, co-taught, or been in a student-teacher relationship with the candidate. If the letter writers have collaborated with the candidate in the past, they should pass the same distance test used by the major funding agencies in the candidate’s field: if the relationship is recent or close enough that the proposed letter writer would have to recuse himself/herself from a funding panel considering an application for that candidate, then the proposed letter writer is too recent or close for this promotion dossier. Each external letter of recommendation should be accompanied either by the author’s abbreviated and current curriculum vitae or a brief biological statement to provide the review committee a context for the recommendation submitted.
   • Note for Distinguished Teaching Professor – In these letters, the recommenders should: comment briefly about their relationship to the candidate, corroborate the candidate’s merit for appointment, describe the candidate’s teaching techniques, contextualize the candidate’s most important achievements, speak to the influence and impact of the candidate’s contribution to teaching in general or in the discipline, and explain the significance of the candidate’s awards and honors. One of these letters should be from a former student of the candidate attesting to the candidate’s teaching ability, dedication and service to students. However, the inclusion of letters from former students should be limited; in other words, the majority of letters should not be from former students. Each external letter of recommendation should be accompanied either by the author’s abbreviated and current curriculum vitae or a brief biological description to provide the review committee a context for the recommendation submitted.
   • Note for Distinguished Service Professor – In these letters, the recommenders should: comment briefly about their relationship to the candidate, corroborate the candidate’s merit for appointment, describe the candidate’s stature in the profession and/or community, catalog the candidate’s most important achievements, speak to the influence and impact of the candidate’s contribution on the profession and/or community, and explain the significance of the candidate’s service awards and honors.  Each external letter of recommendation should be accompanied either by the author’s abbreviated and current curriculum vitae or a brief biological description to provide the review committee a context for the recommendation submitted.
   •  Distinguished Librarian – In these letters, the recommenders should corroborate the candidate’s merit for appointment, describe the candidate’s stature in the discipline, catalog the candidate’s most important achievements, speak to the influence and impact of the candidate’s contribution on the discipline, and explain the significance of the candidate’s awards and honors. Each external letter of recommendation should be accompanied either by the author’s abbreviated and current curriculum vitae or a brief biological description to provide the review committee a context for the recommendation submitted.

6. Course Evaluations (Distinguished Teaching Professor only) (PDF Format) – Numerical summaries of student course evaluations (along with student comments, where available) should include average means for the first four IAS items for the candidates’ career at Brockport. Grade distributions should be included. Also include a representative sample of the full original printouts of IAS results (include the most recent forms for all courses taught). Consideration will be given to grading patterns for all courses in at least two recent years. An explanation must be added if this information is not included. Provide contextual information to allow the review committee to better understand the grade distributions, if necessary.

7. Additional Materials (PDF Format) – Candidates are highly recommended to submit additional materials for consideration by the campus committee and President. Please do not submit full articles, books, or videotapes, etc. as they will not be reviewed. Include summary documents rather than individual items whenever possible. For ideas about the types of additional materials to submit, consult the relevant campus Chancellor’s Award guidelines.

If you have questions please contact the CELT Director at celt@brockport.edu.