On Feb. 14, a community wide email from Vice Chancellor Mariët Westermann, Provost Arlie Peters and Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity Kirsten Edepli announced an inaugural series of awards that will celebrate the service of NYU Abu Dhabi faculty and staff.

The email explained that these awards will be the first in the university’s history to allow students, alumni, faculty, staff and other community members to formally recognize the contributions of faculty and staff that go “above and beyond the scope of their positions and demonstrate specific values, behaviors and competencies at an exceptional level”.

The awards for faculty will be given to those that demonstrate excellence in research, teaching and service while a separate award will be given for teaching innovation. The awards consist of 1000 U.S. dollars, an award ceremony, a mention in commencement and a memento of the award.

Nominations for the NYUAD Faculty Awards are now open and will close on March 8. There are three categories and up to two awards can be given per category. The categories are research awards, teaching awards and service awards.

Nominees for the NYUAD Distinguished Research Award — which celebrates excellence in research and creative innovation — must have published research or demonstrated creative accomplishments within the last three calendar years and completed three years of service at NYUAD at the time of reception.

The NYUAD Award for Teaching Excellence rewards faculty that have done extraordinary work in teaching, mentoring or capstone advising. This award requires that faculty members have completed at least three years of continuous service and also requires all nominations to be accompanied with reference letters from the students impacted by said faculty.

The NYUAD Award for Teaching Innovation is awarded to those that have shown creativity and ambition in their teaching methods and have innovative ideas. This particular award is open to all faculty – standing, affiliate, visiting or adjunct – and members of academic staff that have been teaching for two years at the time of nomination.

The NYUAD Distinguished Service Award is reserved for members of the standing faculty that have demonstrated dedicated service to the mission of NYUAD and candidates must have completed three years of continuous service and at least one year of service at NYUAD.

On Feb. 16, a second email from Westermann, joined this time by a statement from Chief Administrative and Business Officer Peter Christensen and Deputy Chief Human Resources Officer Theresa Powell, announced further details about the NYUAD Faculty Awards sister program: the NYUAD Employee Service Excellence Award.

The Employee Service Excellence Award will be presented to administrative, academic and research staff that have excelled at their jobs. The broader NYUAD community will again have the opportunity to nominate the staff they feel truly represent institutional values.

Unlike the NYUAD Faculty Awards, the Employee Service Excellence award will start accepting nominations in March and will be reviewed by “a selection committee consisting of representatives from the broader NYUAD community”. More details will be shared soon.

Similarly to its sister program, the Employee Service Excellence Award will consist of 1000 U.S. dollars, a celebration in their honor and a gift to celebrate their excellence.

The Office of the Vice Chancellor will continue to update the community on the awards and the nomination process.