Distinguished University Scholar Program

• Nominees will be full-time* tenured UBC faculty members in the research or educational leadership streams, including Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Teaching, Professor, or Professor of Teaching.
• Both Vancouver and Okanagan tenured faculty members are eligible for nomination.
• A Canada Research Chair holder cannot be nominated for DUS, except where the CRC term would end prior to, or at the same time as, the start date of the DUS appointment.
• University Killam Professors, or special chairs such as President's Excellence Chairs, CERCs, Principal's Research Chairs or Endowed Chairs, would not be eligible for nomination.

*This can include full-time faculty who currently have reduced loads for a variety of reasons such as disability.

Nominations are evaluated based on the quality of the nominee's work and proposed scholarly program. The following criteria are considered:

• Distinguished University Scholars should be outstanding and innovative scholars whose accomplishments have had a significant impact in the field.
• Distinguished University Scholars should have received international recognition as leaders in the field.
• A Distinguished University Scholar's record in attracting and supervising a diversity of students and trainees should be exemplary, taking into account the practices and standards of the field.
• A Distinguished University Scholar's proposed scholarly program should be innovative, original and of high quality.
• Distinguished University Scholars' work should be at the level of scholarly excellence demonstrated by Tier 1 Canada Research Chairs and similar distinguished faculty.
• To the extent possible in their field, a Distinguished University Scholar and their scholarly program have demonstrated efforts to model equitable and inclusive research activities (e.g. across research design, community engagement, research team composition, research team competency and culture, research environment and climate, highly-qualified personnel and early-career researcher development, and knowledge translation.

The Invitation for Nominations is issued in alternating years. 

Nominations are submitted to the Office of the Provost and VP Academic (UBC Vancouver) and are submitted by the Dean of the Faculty in which the nominee holds their primary appointment. The allowable number of nominations from each Faculty is listed below.

Deans' Offices should establish their own equitable processes for internally collecting and adjudicating nominations well before the deadline for submitting to the Provost Office.

EDI Considerations for Nomination and Adjudication Committees

To ensure an equitable distribution of nominations, the following allocations have been developed based on Faculty FTE counts:

UBC Vancouver

UBC Okanagan

The following components must be included in the nomination package:

1. A letter from the Dean (maximum two pages) with rationale for the nomination. The nominee's work should be described in language that can be understood by non-experts in the field. It would be helpful to include a summary of highlights of the nominee's publishing record, and a note about publication norms for the field as these can vary between Faculties.
2. A short description (1 page preferred; maximum 2 pages) prepared by the nominee describing in general terms their current work and scholarly plans for the next five years. The document should be written in language that can be understood by non-experts in the field, if possible.
3. Three letters of support, each from a referee who is arms-length to the candidate and external to UBC, commenting on the scholarly excellence of the nominee and their suitability for the DUS designation. Refer to the SAC Guide for definition of "arms length". Letters should be written to the adjudication panel specifically for the DUS nomination. Please include a brief description of the research and profile of each referee.
4. The nominee's curriculum vitae, in standard UBC format.

Each nomination package is to be organized into a single PDF file.  The file should include a DUS application checklist as the cover page.  The Dean's Office should attach the entire file to an email addressed to the Deputy Provost & Associate Vice-President Academic, Dr. Janice Stewart (and emailed to selina.fast@ubc.ca who will receive it on Dr. Stewart's behalf).  The submission deadline is September 25, 2025.

If internal adjudication is necessary within the Faculty, Deans’ Offices are encouraged to notify Departments, or nominees directly, to advise whether their nominations were successful or unsuccessful in being selected for submission to the Provost Office for final adjudication.

Members of an Adjudication Panel evaluate nominations for Distinguished University Scholar using the Selection Criteria. The evaluation rubric will be posted here for transparency in 2025.

The Adjudication Panel makes recommendations to the President.  The new DUS appointees will be notified and their appointments will be announced to the UBC community. The appointees' funding is expected to begin on April 1, 2026.

Adjudication Panel will include the following members and include at least one member from UBC Okanagan:

• Chair: preferably a current or former Chair of the Senior Appointments Committee
• The Chair of the Faculty Research Awards Committee
• 3-4 diverse current Distinguished University Scholars, selected by the Deputy Provost
• 3-4 diverse emeriti Distinguished University Scholars, selected by the Deputy Provost
• The Deputy Provost & AVP Academic (observer)
• The Executive Assistant to the Deputy Provost & AVP Academic (secretary)

While the title of Distinguished University Scholar is held as long as the DUS is a tenured member of faculty at the University, the funding (annual stipend only) is renewable once, for a second five-year term.

Distinguished University Scholars who are coming to the end of their first five-year term will be contacted six months in advance of the end date and invited to apply for renewal. Distinguished University Scholars who wish to apply should notify their Head or Director, who will need to submit the following:

• Application Form completed by the Distinguished University Scholar (template provided by the Provost Office).
• Applicant's curriculum vitae, in standard UBC format.
• Two letters of support that speak to the candidate's achievements in the first term and the ongoing relevance of the research, specifically:
  • a letter from the Dean who supported the original nomination or his/her successor; please include a brief mention of publication norms for the field;
  • an external letter of support from an established authority in the field without a conflict of interest with the applicant.

The Head or Director should forward the above documents (application + two letters + CV) as one PDF file to the Provost Office by the deadline advised.

A subset of the adjudication committee, including the Chair, two current DUS, two emeriti DUS, and the Deputy Provost (observer), will review the renewal application packages and make recommendations to the President. Recommendations will be based on evidence that the Distinguished University Scholar has and will continue to sustain a level of excellence expected across the evaluation criteria.

Renewal applicants will be notified of their results approximately six to eight weeks prior to the end of their funding terms.