Special Merit Award

ABOUT THE AWARD

The Special Merit award is presented in recognition of a person, group or organization in recognition of distinctive support for the purposes and goals of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

The award is usually presented to a person, group, or organization in recognition of distinctive support for the purposes and goals of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

NOMINATION EVALUATION CRITERIA

When reviewing nominations, the awards committee will make decisions based on the following preferred and demonstrated attributes:
 
  1. Service or contributions that advance the purposes and goals of ASHE or research on higher education.
  2. The distinctiveness of the service or contributions to ASHE.

2023 AWARDS TIMELINE

  • Nominations will be open in early May 2023 and close in late June 2023. Due to the number of submissions and the review process, no late submissions will be accepted; as such, nominators are encouraged to submit their nominations well in advance of this deadline.
  • Nominators and nominees will be informed of decisions in mid-September.
  • An announcement of recipients will be sent to the ASHE membership in late September.
  • The recipient(s) will be recognized during the ASHE Awards Ceremony during the Annual Conference.

TO SUBMIT A NOMINATION

You'll need:

  • Name, Title, Position, Institution, Email, and Phone Number of Coordinating Nominator
  • Name, Title, Position, Institution, Email, and Phone Number of Nominee
  • A nomination statement up to 750 words that demonstrates the nominee's match to the award evaluation criteria. This should not be a nomination or support letter, but a summary of the nominee's qualifications for this specific award.
  • 2-3 letters of support. For upload into the nomination form, these should be combined into one document, preferably a pdf.
  • The nominee's CV.
Due to the increased number of nominations received in recent years, each nominee will be limited to one nomination. In the event multiple nominations are submitted, the committee chair will notify the coordinating nominators requesting they consolidate their nominations.

The coordinating nominator, as well as the award nominee(s) (and subsequently recipient(s)), must be current members of ASHE.
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Questions about the 2023 award process can be sent to office@ashe.ws.

Nominations for 2023 will open in early May 2023.

AWARDS COMMITTEE

The ASHE Awards Committee is a standing committee of the Board of Directors. Committee members are recommended by the President to the Board of Directors and service 1-3 year terms.

2023 Committee Members:

  • Raquel Rall (Chair), University of California, Riverside
  • Beth Bukoski (Board Rep), Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Emily VanZoest (Grad Rep), North Carolina State University
  • Matthew Witenstein, University of Dayton
  • Julie Park, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Sylvia Martinez, Indiana University
  • Eugene Parker, University of Kansas

2022 Special Merit Award:
Center for Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education (CDIHE)- University of Maryland College Park

2021 Special Merit Award:
Jennifer Hoffman, University of Washington


2020 Special Merit Award:
The Indigenous Scholars Collective

Recipients:

  • 2022 Center for Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education (CDIHE)- University of Maryland, College Park
  • 2021 Jennifer Hoffman
  • 2020 The Indigenous Scholars Collective
  • 2016 Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA
  • 2015 Inside Higher Ed
  • 2011 Institute for Higher Education Policy
  • 2010 The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education
  • 2008 The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina
  • 2006 United Negro College Fund
  • 2005 Samuel E. Kellams
  • 2004 Jerry Davis/Lumina
  • 2003 University of Michigan Affirmative Action Defense Team
  • 2002 Walter R. Allen
  • 2001 Clifford Adelman & Deborah Wilds
  • 2000 Michael Olivas
  • 1995 Lavina Fielding Anderson
  • 1993 Walter Hobbs
  • 1992 Jossey-Bass Incorporated Publishers
  • 1989 Peggy Heim & Robert Silverman