University Outstanding Creative Activity Award
This award shall be given for outstanding creative work. Creative contributions shall include, but not be limited to, the following broad categories:
- 2D Media
- 3D Media
- Choreography - Dance, Industrial, Theatre, Virtual Platform, Video Games
- Film, video, and television, including scripts
- Composition
- Creative Technologies
- Creative Writing, Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non-fiction
- Designing
- Digital Media
- Directing
- Expanded Media
- Performance - Art, Dance, Music, Theatre
- Museum exhibition design
The contribution(s) must have been recognized in the field as having national and/or international significance. This award is not designed to recognize a single major work, but recognizes consistent and sustained contributions to the field.
Individuals designated as University Outstanding Creative Activity Awardees will receive a $3,000 award.
College deans submit notifications and completed application materials to AVP for Research by the close of the working day October 1.
Announcement of awards: December
Criteria for Eligibility
- Nominees must be tenured or probationary tenure faculty members currently contributing to their discipline(s) through creative expression. Full time administrators (e.g., Deans, Department Chairs/School Directors, Associate Deans, etc.) are not eligible for these faculty awards. Administrators returning to the faculty become immediately eligible for the award. Work created during their time as administrators may be included in their nomination materials. Nominees must have been at Illinois State University for a minimum of three academic years prior to nomination.
- Nominees must have received an Outstanding College Creative Activity Award.
- Members of the University Research Council are ineligible during their terms of service. Previous recipients of the award are ineligible.
- Individuals may not be nominated for both the Outstanding University Creative Activity Award and the Creative Activity Initiative Award simultaneously.
Procedures for Submission of Applications
- Eligible faculty members may ask to be considered for nomination by the College Research Committee; they may be nominated by any faculty member or department chair/school director in the College; or they may be nominated by the College Research Committee. Application materials are provided to each College Dean for distribution to applicants in the College. Applications are submitted to the College. Please check with your College for the date these are due.
- The Dean of the College, in conjunction with the College Research Committee, may submit to the University Research Council up to three individuals from among the nominees.
- These College nominees must seek written endorsement of their applications from their department chairperson/school director or a colleague in the department/school. In addition, one support letter from a source external to the University addressing the significance of the nominee’s work must be provided.
- The College Dean shall submit the completed applications to the Associate Vice President for Research. Requirements for a completed application are listed below. The College nominees should be unranked.
- The final evaluation of applications will be made by the University Research Council. During deliberation, the Council may request supporting materials from nominees and/or may ask the College Deans for additional information.
- The University Research Council will recommend to the Provost up to two recipients from the list of nominees forwarded to the Council by the College Deans.
Application
- Cover sheet form
- Endorsement of the application by the nominee’s department chairperson/school director or a faculty member of their department/school is a critical component of the application. The endorsement should address:
- quality of the work
- reputation of the venue/juried events/journals
- the scope of influence of the nominees work nationally and internationally
- contribution of the work to the advancement of the discipline.
- At least one external letter (but no more than three), should be included in the materials submitted for consideration. External letters of support provide reviewers with helpful insights about the contribution of the accomplishments to the discipline and society.
- A Full-Career CV. Creative Activity accomplishments should be categorized and listed beginning with the most recent, using the Evaluation Guidelines and Criteria of Scholarly and Creative Productivity found in these application materials.
- Statement from Nominee summarizing their creative activities and contributions, goals for current creative endeavors, and the rationale involved in the development of long-term creative endeavors. The statement should be written at a level appropriate for peers outside the discipline. In addition to a description of current activities, the statement should address the significance of the nominee's total body of creative work to the field. (1 to 1½ pages single-spaced)
- Digital access to no more than three representative pieces of work or products of creative expression (e.g., audio/video files, website link to specific representative pieces, pdf portfolio).
Criteria for Evaluations
- A nominee's record of creative activity while at Illinois State University will be given greatest weight in the Council's deliberations, although a full career curriculum vitae for each nominee will be evaluated.
- Nominees will be evaluated for
- nationally and internationally recognized creative work,
- quality of creative work, and
- contribution to profession/discipline.
- Written endorsements should address the following criteria:
- Importance of nominee's research nationally and internationally
- Quality/uniqueness of scholarly work
- How work makes unusual contribution to professional discipline
Distribution of Award
Each recipient receives $3000, payable as $1000 in salary and $2000 in operating funds. Funds must be expended by the end of the fiscal year in which the award is granted.