York University’s Senate Committee on Awards is inviting nominations for two of its highest faculty honours: the University Professorship and the Distinguished Research Professorship.
These prestigious awards recognize exceptional faculty members who exemplify York’s commitment to excellence in teaching, research and service. Faculty members are encouraged to nominate peers who embody these values, contribute to the University’s vibrant academic community and advance its mission of innovation and scholarship.
University Professorships are life-time awards conferred on a well-rounded professor who is recognized by their peers for: teaching, service to York community, and, where appropriate, scholarship.
The Distinguished Research Professorship is awarded to a member of the faculty who has made outstanding contributions to the University through research. The Distinguished Research Professor will have demonstrated scholarly achievement by sustained publication or other recognized and accepted demonstrations of sustained authoritative contributions to scholarship.
Nominations may be made by all tenured faculty members, who shall provide a complete nomination file, including the nominee’s CV, a detailed letter of nomination explaining how the candidate’s achievements conform to the general criteria, along with three (3) letters of support from those in a position to comment on the nominee’s achievements and contributions.
Additional details about the criteria and nomination procedures are set out in the Senate Policy on Honorific Professorships.
Nominations for honorific professorships should be submitted by Friday, March 6 at 4:30 p.m. Nominations may be submitted via the Distinguished Research Professor mach form or the University Professor mach form available on the Awards webpage or to James Pratt, secretary of the Senate Awards Committee, at jpratt@yorku.ca.
The awards will be announced at York’s 2026 Spring Convocation.
York strongly values diversity and equity within its research community and encourages nominations of those who are under-represented in recent competitions.