Luminary Award

Overview

UCF has a level of recognition that is campus-wide inclusive and aligns with our collective goal of national and international prominence for UCF through creative works, research, and scholarship. The UCF Luminary (person of prominence or brilliant light) Scholar is an individual faculty member or group of faculty members (e.g., teams working together in a lab or faculty clusters) who has achieved notable accomplishments in research and/or creative activity over the past three years while working at UCF. These accomplishments should demonstrate significant impact that can be clearly recognized either nationally or internationally; similarly, achievements could have local relevancy that achieve global impact. These individuals also may evidence achievements in scholarship that are not easily acknowledged in other programs such as the Research Incentive Awards or the College/University Excellence in Research Awards. For example, scholarship may have substantial impact to art/culture/community but be relatively modest in terms of quantitative evidence (e.g., grant dollars, citation count, etc.).

Criteria for Recognition

Creative works, research, and scholarship should be recognized externally by news releases, media coverage, national or international awards or fellowships, significant public involvement, social media hits, etc. It is essential that these faculty are furthering our goal of unleashing the potential of people and ideas to positively change the world.

Eligibility

• Recognition is available to all ranks of full-time faculty.¹
• Previous winners are not

Protocol for Nomination

1. In each academic department, chairs and/or directors can nominate up to 2 faculty.
2. Deans from the College of Optics and Photonics and the College of Graduate Studies can nominate up to 2 faculty.
3. Directors of each research center and institute reporting to the VPR can nominate 1 faculty member.
4. Deans can nominate 1 additional faculty member who meets the criteria, following the outlined process.
5. No self-nominations, please.
6. All aspects of this process from nomination to selection will remain confidential until winners are announced.
7. Failure to adhere to nomination protocol will disqualify all nominees.

Nomination Materials

Nominations must include the following as one pdf file:

• One-page maximum letter of nomination from the Dean, Department Chair or Director (as outlined previously) that includes a detailed description of recent scholarship achieved (within the last three years, specifically Summer 2022 through Spring 2025), and how it has been notable/recognized nationally or internationally.
• Do not merely reiterate the content of the CV. The letter should describe exactly how the work of this individual or team has had significant impact and led to national and/or international recognition.
• For groups of faculty members, one letter of nomination will suffice that clearly indicates the contribution of each individual on the team and confirmation that each team member is a full-time UCF faculty member.
• 2-4 page vita for each nominee, font size no smaller than 11 pt. (not to exceed 4 pages)
• Nomination packets that exceed 5 pages total will be returned. (This does not include group nominations.)

Submission Process and Deadline

• Nominations from Chairs and Directors should be submitted to the Dean of their respective college on or before 5:00 p.m. on May 30, 2025. These nominations must be reviewed and submitted by the Dean to the Vice President for Research on or before 5:00 p.m. on June 13, 2025, via InfoReady.
• Nomination materials from the Deans of the College of Optics and Photonics and the College of Graduate Studies, and from the Directors of the Office of Research Centers and Institutes should be emailed to the Vice President for Research, Winston Schoenfeld, on or before 5:00 p.m. on June 13, 2025.

Evaluation of Nominations

Awardees will be selected by a Provost committee.

Selection committee decisions are final.

Recipients of recognition awards will be notified and publicly recognized.