Graduate Excellence Awards

Each year, the Graduate School recognizes the important contributions of graduate students to the excellence of the University with four renowned awards:

See deadlines and helpful hints for nominating students for awards.

All nominations will need to be completed and submitted through an online form.

Excellence in Teaching

The Award for Excellence in Teaching honors graduate teaching assistants and instructors of record who have demonstrated exceptional service to Binghamton University’s undergraduates. Nominations are invited from all graduate programs, and recipients of the award represent a variety of teaching approaches in diverse subjects.

Awards are given once a year to 10-15 graduate students who have been nominated by their department and selected by a panel consisting of faculty and a representative of the Graduate School. Teaching excellence awardees receive a gift and a certificate of achievement. They are also recognized in the Commencement program if they are graduating in the academic year.

Nominations are made by the program’s graduate director. Each program may nominate only 2 graduate students per year.

Nomination packets must include:

  • A cover sheet with the name of the nominee, phonetic pronunciation of the nominee's name, the graduate program, degree sought, and a narrative paragraph of 100-150 words that highlights the nominee's achievements
  • A current curriculum vitae of the nominee
  • A single-page statement (maximum 250 words) of teaching approach and philosophy written by the nominee

Nomination packets may also include:

  • Letters from faculty who have supervised the graduate student's teaching
  • Sets of teaching evaluations
  • Letters from students or former students of the graduate student
  • A representative sample of handouts, assignments and exams designed by the instructor as appropriate

Graduate directors will receive nomination information from the Graduate School. Submit nomination packets electronically to the Graduate School by the deadline listed in the awards calendar.

Excellence in Research

The Award for Excellence in Research honors the important contributions graduate students make to research at the University and the wide variety of approaches they take to the advancement of knowledge.

Awards are given once a year to 10-15 graduate students. Awardees are nominated by their department and selected by a panel consisting of faculty and a representative of the Graduate School. Research excellence awardees will receive a gift and a certificate of the achievement. They are also recognized in the Commencement program if they are graduating in the academic year.

Nominations are made by the program’s graduate director. Each program may nominate only 2 graduate students per year.

Nomination packets must contain:

  • A cover sheet with the name of the nominee, phonetic pronunciation of the nominee’s name, the graduate program, degree sought, and a narrative paragraph of 100-150 words that highlights the nominee’s achievements
  • A current curriculum vitae of the nominee
  • Justification for the award such as:
    • A concise statement (from nominee) of research interests, including the goal and subject of research
    • Letters from faculty who have directed the student’s research specifying its original contribution to knowledge in the field or exceptional collaboration with a research team
    • Offprints of publications or other material illustrating the quality of work and productivity of the student’s research/scholarship/creative endeavors
    • Letters from other graduate students regarding departmental presentations, seminars, etc., given by the nominee

Graduate directors will receive nomination information from the Graduate School. Submit nomination packets electronically to the Graduate School by the deadline listed in the awards calendar.

Excellence in Service/Outreach

The Award for Excellence in Service/Outreach honors graduate students who distinguish themselves in service to their departments, academic programs, schools and/or the University. The award also recognizes students who have used their graduate education to make outstanding contributions to the community beyond the University. While outreach activities of all types represent important contributions to society, the service/outreach excellence awards are intended to honor outreach of a professional nature. Nominations are invited from all graduate programs, and recipients represent a variety of service and outreach activities across the University and community.

Awards are given once a year to 10-15 graduate students. Awardees are nominated by their department and selected by a panel consisting of graduate students, faculty and a representative of the Graduate School. Excellence in service and outreach awardees receive a gift and a certificate of achievement. They are also recognized in the Commencement program if they are graduating in the academic year.

Nominations are made by the program’s graduate director. Each program may nominate only 2 graduate students per year.

Nomination packets must contain:

  • A cover sheet with the name of the nominee, phonetic pronunciation of the nominee’s name, the graduate program, degree sought, and a narrative paragraph of 100-150 words that highlights the nominee’s achievements
  • A current curriculum vitae
  • A single-page summary (maximum 250 words) of the nature and extent of the service and/or outreach activities
  • A single-page statement (250 words) of service approach and philosophy written by the nominee. In the case of outreach activities, the statement must indicate how this outreach reflects or depends upon the student’s knowledge, skills and abilities that result from their graduate education
  • Other justification for the award, including some or all of the following:
    • Letters from students, staff, faculty or others familiar with the nominee’s work
    • Statements from those affected by the service/outreach efforts
    • Any other documentation of the impact of the service/outreach efforts

Graduate directors will receive nomination information from the Graduate School. Submit nomination packets electronically to the Graduate School by the deadline listed in the awards calendar.

Distinguished Dissertation Awards

The Distinguished Dissertation Award is for PhD and EdD dissertations defended and submitted to the Graduate School in each calendar year (e.g., 2015). The selection process will occur in the following spring semester (e.g., spring 2016). The Distinguished Dissertation Award recognizes original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline. Both methodological and substantive quality are judged.

Awards are given each year in 4 broad disciplinary areas:

  1. mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering;
  2. social sciences;
  3. humanities and fine arts; and
  4. biological and life sciences.

Note that education, management and some nursing topics fall in social sciences, and other nursing topics, in life sciences. The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) uses these categories for its annual national dissertation awards. Recipients of the Distinguished Dissertation Award will receive an honorarium of $500 and may be nominated by the University for national dissertation awards, such as the CGS national award.

The process described below is designed to identify dissertations that make unusually significant contributions to their discipline. The procedures are aligned with those of national competitions for dissertation awards. In that way, Binghamton University's Distinguished Dissertation Award Committee also vets dissertations for submission to national competitions.

Each department/program/unit may nominate only 1 dissertation. Units are requested to nominate dissertations of truly superior quality and unusual distinction. A minimal qualification would be that at least part of the dissertation is of publishable quality in its submitted form.

Nomination for the award must be made by the unit's graduate director. It is expected that the unit's graduate committee has vetted the dissertation being nominated. The nomination must be sent to the Graduate School via the Graduate School Excellence Award Nomination Online Form by 5:00 p.m. on the first Friday of March for the year's competition. Students are eligible if they graduated with the PhD or EdD degree in the calendar year prior to the spring competition. Prior to nomination, the dissertation must have been completed and submitted electronically to ProQuest via the Graduate School.

Checklist for Nomination Packet

  • 3 letters of support – supporters are advised to read the "helpful hints" sheet below
    • From the graduate director of the unit
    • From the dissertation/faculty advisor
    • From another appropriate evaluator (e.g., committee member, another faculty person from Binghamton University or elsewhere)
  • Abstract re-written for lay audience – students are advised to read the "for the public" sheet below
    • Maximum of 5 pages, double-spaced Times New Roman 12 pt font, 1 inch margins
    • In addition, may have maximum of 5 pages of illustrations (e.g., tables, figures, drawings, photographs) provided that these add value
  • Curriculum vitae – maximum of 4 pages, Times New Roman 12 pt font, 1 inch margins
  • Dissertation – do not send unless the committee requests this

Nominees: The re-written abstract should frame the work in terms of the "big picture," and the ideas, examples and conclusions should focus on how the dissertation significantly addresses the problem or question. If the dissertation consists of several published papers or manuscripts, there should be an introduction in the dissertation that frames the chapters within a larger objective or question, and a final synthesis in the dissertation. If there are co-authors on any of the chapters, the role of each author should be explained in a preface, introduction or appendix of the dissertation.

Letter writers: The letters of support should explain the original and substantial contribution to the discipline made by the dissertation. Letters should avoid jargon and explain the value of the work in a way that passages would be suitable for publication in Inside Binghamton University. If portions of the dissertation have been published, letter writers should indicate the tier of the journal. If there are co-authors on any chapters, letter writers should address the contribution of the nominee.

The distinguished dissertation awards committee is drawn from graduate council members and is chaired by the associate dean of the Graduate School. The committee will review the nomination packets. It will then select a subset as finalists. The finalists will be asked to submit their dissertations electronically. From the finalists, the committee will make its recommendations for the awards.

Recent Awardees