Select Page

Awards

Distinguished Faculty Governance Award

Faculty members who consistently place University-wide interests on the same level as their personal career and departmental interests represent a scarce resource that all faculty members treasure. Their concern with the general welfare protects and nourishes our individual welfare. The kinds of corporate activities these University citizens take on give us a secure sense of collective conscience. Faculty governance is the arena in which these citizens serve, and it is faculty governance through the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs that recognizes their accomplishments with this award.

The Distinguished Faculty Governance Award of $1,500 was established by SACUA in 1986 and is funded by the Alumni Association. The criterion for the award is distinguished service to faculty governance over several years with an emphasis on university-wide service

Current SACUA members are ineligible, as are those members from the immediate past year. All members of the University Senate (assistant, associate, and full professors, research scientists, and librarians who are Senate Members, as well as clinical professors (assistant, associate, and full) and lecturers (I, II, III, and IV) with at least a 50% appointment) are eligible.

Please submit nomination materials with the faculty awards nomination form. The deadline for the 2024 award cycle is May 3, 2024.

  • A nomination letter outlining the faculty members’ work, participation, and contributions for Central Faculty Governance. (Required)
  • Nominee’s CV (Required)
  • Additional supporting statements (optional)

Note: Nominees are eligible for three years: the current year and, if not selected, they will also be automatically included in the pool of candidates for the next two award cycles.

If you have any questions about the award or the nomination process, please contact the Faculty Senate Office at facultysenateoffice@umich.edu or at 734-764-0303. Thank you for your participation.

Dinesh Pal - 2024 Recipient

Associate professor of anesthesiology, and of molecular and integrative physiology, Medical School

 

 

 

 

Pal, a neuroscientist studying the neural regulation of arousal states, is an effective and respected champion within the Faculty Senate for equity, inclusion and shared governance. Pal earned a B.S. in applied zoology in 1997 and an M.S. in zoology in 1999 from the University of Delhi, and a postgraduate diploma in international law and diplomacy in 2000. He completed a Ph.D. in sleep neurobiology in 2006 at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and postdoctoral training at the University of California-Berkeley and U-M. He is the chair of Committee on Rules, Practices and Policies, has served on the Committee on Civil Rights and Liberties and the Committee on Fairness, Equity and Inclusion, was a Senate Assembly member, and chaired the Committee on Antiracism. He spearheaded the efforts to include caste as a protected category in non-discrimination language and brought forth a resolution to condemn anti-Asian racism. He succeeded in prompting the Senate to explore establishing a memorial acknowledging the land Native American tribes granted U-M and advocating for their descendants’ involvement across the tri-campuses.

The 2024 awardee information (above) was written and provided by the Office of University Development, as published in a 2024 University Record article.

Previous Distinguished Faculty Governance Award Recipients

2023 — Natalia V. Czap, Professor of Economics, UM-Dearborn

2022 — Neil Marsh, LSA Chemistry, and Medical School

2022 — David Potter, LSA Classical Studies

2021 — Silke-Maria Weineck, LSA German Studies and Comparative Literature

2020 — Not Applicable – No Award Made

2019 — Deborah Goldberg, Literature, Science, and the Arts

2018 — Bruce Maxim, UM Dearborn, College of Engineering and Computer Science

2017 — Scott Masten, Ross School of Business

2016 — Rich Friedman, Law School

2015 — Karen Staller, School of Social Work

2014 — Keith Riles, LSA Physics

2013 — Bruno Giordani, LSA Psychology

2012 — Michael Thouless, Engineering

2011 — David Potter, Classical Studies, LSA

2011 — Robert Axelrod, Public Policy and LSA-Political Science

2010 — Bruce Frier, Law & LSA

2010 — Stanley Berent, Medicine

2008 — Semyon Meerkov, Engineering

2007 — Fred Askari, Medicine

2007 — George Brewer, Medicine

2006 — William D. Ensminger, Medicine

2005 — Cynthia Luz Marcelo, Medicine

2004 — Louis G. D’Alecy, Medicine

2004 — William W. Schultz, Engineering

2003 — Charles B. Smith, Medicine

2002 — Alphonse R. Burdi, Medicine

2001 — Jackie Lawson, UM-Dearborn

2000 — Thomas Dunn, Chemistry, LSA (Emeritus)

1999 — John T. Lehman, Biology, LSA

1999 — Sheila Feld, Social Work

1998 — Thomas E. Moore, Biology, LSA

1997 — Beth Glover Reed, Social Work

1996 — Theodore J. St. Antoine, Law

1995 — Gayle D. Ness, Sociology, LSA

1994 — Peggie J. Hollingsworth, Emeritus

1993 — Donald R. Brown, Psychology, LSA

1992 — Claude A. Eggertsen, Education (Emeritus)

1991 — Daniel E. Moerman, Anthropology, UM-Dearborn

1990 — Wilbert J. McKeachie, Psychology, LSA

1990 — William C. Stebbins, Medicine

1989 — Donald R. Deskins, Jr., Sociology, LSA

1988 — Cecil Nesbitt, Mathematics, LSA

1987 — Ralph A. Loomis, English, LSA

1986 — Janice B. Lindberg, Nursing

1986 — Wilfred Kaplan, Mathematics, LSA