Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year Award

Call for Nominations: Submissions open for the Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year Award on September 1. For instructions on how to submit your nomination, please contact your dean's office. Submissions are due to the nominee's dean by November 2. 

About the Award

The Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year Award, is awarded to a Baylor faculty member who makes a superlative contribution to the learning environment at Baylor, including teaching that is judged to be of the highest order of intellectual acumen, and pedagogical effectiveness, research which is recognized as outstanding by the national and/or international as well as local community of scholars, and service which is regarded as exemplary in building the character of intellectual community at Baylor.

The Professor of the Year award is named in honor of Dr. Cornelia Marschall Smith. Dr. Smith was an alumna, professor, and chair of Baylor’s biology department. Born in 1896 in a log cabin near Fredericksburg, Texas, Dr. Smith followed her sister to Baylor and, while here, taught German to the children of President Samuel Palmer Brooks. She earned a B.A. (1918) at Baylor, an M.A. (1925) at the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. (1928) at Johns Hopkins. Widely celebrated for fine teaching and generous mentoring, she was also a research scientist and a principled and thoughtful Christian. She remained a lively contributor to all dimensions of Baylor’s community—including musical, cultural, and athletic events—almost until her death at the age of 101 in 1997.  It would be hard to imagine a better exemplar from the last century to model the all-around excellence we at Baylor seek to honor in the present century.

Nominations Process 

Nominations are requested from all faculty, students, and alumni. Nominations of nominees from previous years are welcome (although previous recipients of the award are not eligible).  Each nomination must be submitted to the candidate’s dean on November 1 of each academic year (moved if on a weekend), and must include:

• A letter of nomination from the nominator, telling why the candidate deserves the award;
• A letter from the candidate agreeing to be considered for the award; and
• A curriculum vitae from the candidate.

It is helpful for the committee to have as full an understanding as possible of the candidate’s work at Baylor, and to this end, nominators are encouraged to include additional letters that address his or her contributions to Baylor from a variety of perspectives.  These might include, for example, letters from colleagues at Baylor, current and former students, and persons outside Baylor who are familiar with the significance of the candidate’s achievements.

Deans are to submit nominations and their commentary to the vice provost for faculty affairs by December 1 of each academic year. The recipient of the award will be chosen from among the candidates by a committee consisting of four faculty members and the vice provost for faculty affairs. 

The recipient will receive a cash award of $20,000 and a plaque. During the subsequent academic year, the recipient of the award will present a public lecture on an academic topic of their choosing during Family Weekend.