Governor James E. Holshouser Jr. Award for Excellence in Public Service

General Award Information

The Governor James E. Holshouser Jr. Award was first presented in 2007 to “encourage, identify, recognize, and reward public service by employees of the University.” Nominees can include faculty members of any of the 17 institutions of the University of North Carolina. Candidates must demonstrate sustained, distinguished, and superb achievement in public service and outreach, reflecting a commitment to improving the quality of life in North Carolina or elsewhere.  The selection committee considers long-term achievements, special projects with extraordinary impact, and collaborative efforts.

Eligibility

Nominees for the James E. Holshouser Award should:

  • Demonstrate sustained, distinguished, and superb achievement in public service, engagement, and “contributions to improving the quality of life of the citizens of our state”.
  • Provide evidence of achievements that exhibit a level of both creativity and impact that greatly exceed the normal accomplishments of a productive faculty member.

Nomination Procedure and Timeline

  • Each code unit head may submit a nomination by March 15th for a faculty member to be considered for the Governor James E. Holshouser, Jr. Award during the forthcoming academic year. No unit should nominate more than one person. Each unit should develop its own procedures and timelines for college-level review.
  • Nominations should be submitted by each Dean via email to the Office for Faculty Excellence (ofe@ecu.edu) and consist of two components:
    1. Letter of support from the Dean that describes notable public service and achievements of the nominee
    2. The nominee’s current CV
  • The Office for Faculty Excellence will compile nomination materials and schedule selection committee meeting by April 15th.
  • The nomination pool will undergo three levels of review:
    1. A selection committee comprised of the following: two designees by the Chancellor, two designees by the Provost, two designees by the Chair of the Faculty, and a designee from the Office for Faculty Excellence will review the full slate of nominees and recommend 1 – 3 faculty members for consideration by the Provost. Selection committee members should bring a range of disciplines, expertise, and characteristics to the committee and shall serve for a term of one year.
    2. The Provost will review the finalists and provide a recommendation for a nominee to the Chancellor.
    3. The Chancellor will make the final determination for ECU’s candidate.
  • The Office for Faculty Excellence will keep the nominee list, and nominations will remain active for 3 years unless requested otherwise by the unit. If you have nominated anyone within the past 3 years, renomination is not required; however, additional or updated materials may be submitted with each nomination cycle.
  • The selected nominee will work with ECU Creative Services to develop a nomination dossier that includes: Dean and department head signatures; nomination letter from the Chancellor; application form provided by the UNC System Office, executive summary, highlights of the candidate’s recent accomplishments related to the award and associated contribution to the public welfare; current CV; maximum of 4 letters of support. [Note: Requirements for portfolio contents will need to be adjusted per annual guidance provided by the UNC System Office.]
  • The nominees completed portfolio is due to the Office for Faculty Excellence by 5:00 pm on September 30th to be submitted by the deadline provided by the UNC Office for the President to be considered for the system-wide award. [Note, this deadline may be adjusted if the system office adjusts to require an earlier timeline]