Awards

The Atkins Library Faculty Engagement Award is given annually to a UNC Charlotte faculty member who has engaged in innovative or exceptional work with library collections, programs, and services. The award, given in the fall, enables the library to recognize outstanding faculty contributions to the library’s mission, vision, and strategic initiatives. The award recipient will receive $2,000 to be used for travel and professional development, and the finalists (maximum 2) will each receive $250 toward the same purpose.

The Dean of the Library presents the award at a fall reception. Faculty must be nominated by an Atkins librarian or staff member. The award recipient and finalists will be chosen by the Faculty Engagement Award Committee.

Nomination Process

Atkins Library Faculty and Staff (individually or together) are invited to write a statement of support (max. 500 words) describing how the nominee meets the criteria for the award, which may include some combination of the following:

•Promotes the role of the library as essential to the university’s mission and curriculum.
•Works in partnership with library faculty and staff in teaching, research or scholarship.
•Incorporates library materials creatively in course design and instruction, and collaborates with librarians to create research assignments and activities.
•Conducts original primary source research with Atkins’ unique collections leading to publication or significant digital scholarship in their field.
•Promotes effective and creative connections between students and librarians.
•Advocates incorporating increasingly complex library research skills throughout the curriculum of his or her discipline.

Nominations are made during the Spring semester and the recipient and selected finalists are notified prior to the end of the Spring semester.

Eligibility

In addition to meeting one or more of the criteria listed above, nominated faculty must be:

•Teaching at UNC Charlotte in the year that the award is given
•Not a former recipient of the award in the previous two years

After nominations have been received and finalists chosen by the Faculty Award Committee, selected nominees will be asked to provide a personal statement (max. 500 words) describing their innovative or exceptional work with the library.

History

Established in 2015, the Atkins Library Faculty Engagement Award was created under the administration of Atkins Library Dean, Anne Cooper Moore, to recognize and highlight faculty contributions to the library’s mission, vision and strategic initiatives. The award was initially $2,500 for the recipient. Beginning in 2019, the Atkins Library Faculty Engagement Award Committee proposed finalist awards, redistributing $500 from the recipient award, to help the library recognize and highlight more faculty through the annual award and ceremony.