The Office of the Provost and VP Academic has launched the call for the Distinguished University Scholar Program. This program recognizes exceptional members of faculty who have distinguished themselves as scholars in research and/or teaching and learning, or who have the potential to demonstrate such leadership.
DUS awardees receive an annual salary stipend of $20,000 and a one-time research allowance of $20,000. The appointment is a five-year term, renewable once. Up to 10 Distinguished University Scholars are expected to be named in the 2025 competition cycle.
The Faculty of Medicine is seeking its strongest 3 candidates to be nominated for this award.
Eligibility:
- 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.
FoM Preliminary Nomination Selection Package:
To ensure FoM’s strongest possible candidates are put forward to the Office of the Provost and VP Academic, the FoM Office of Research is seeking candidates that would be competitive for this award. Preliminary nominations must be sent directly to the Evelina Tolstykh (evelina.tolstykh@ubc.ca) by 5pm on Thursday, July 10th, 2025 – deadline extended to July 23rd, 2025. A complete nomination package should include the following:
- 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.
- The nominee’s current UBC CV.
- 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 (section 5.5.4) 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.
- A draft letter, on behalf of the Dean, with rationale for the nomination (max. 2 page). A summary, to the extent possible in their field, of how the nominee 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).
Next Steps:
- A FoM internal review panel will review the preliminary applications and present the top 3 nominees to the Dean for his endorsement.
- On behalf of the Dean, the FoM Office of Research will submit the finalized application packages to the Office of the Provost and VP Academic.
- The Office of the Provost and VP Academic will announce results in December 2025 / January 2026.