Faculty
Distinguished University Professor Award
Established in 2005, The Distinguished University Professor Award recognizes sustained excellence in scholarship over a substantial career at Western. Scholarship is broadly defined to include research, teaching and service to the community. Thus, this award is not a recognition solely of research excellence, which is the purpose of the Hellmuth Prize, nor is it a recognition solely of teaching excellence, which is the purpose of the Pleva Award. The Distinguished University Professorship will recognize sustained excellence as a complete scholar.
Teaching Awards
Western University's Award of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching is co-presented by The University Students' Council, The Bank of Nova Scotia and UWO Alumni Association, to recognize, celebrate and award excellence in undergraduate teaching. Each year four award recipients are selected by the USC Teaching Excellence Awards Committee comprised of the USC VP Education, USC Teaching Awards Commissioner, USC Council members, student-at-large members, and Alumni members.
Research Awards
Hellmuth Prizes for Achievement in Research
The Hellmuth Prizes for Achievement in Research are named in honour of Bishop Isaac Hellmuth, who founded The University of Western Ontario in 1878. There are two such prizes offered annually, one in the area broadly defined as the natural sciences and engineering (research that would be supported by NSERC or MRC) and one in the social sciences and humanities.
John Charles Polanyi Prizes
In honour of the achievement of John Charles Polanyi, recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Government of Ontario has established a fund to provide annually up to five prizes to outstanding researchers in the early stages of their career who are continuing to postdoctoral studies at an Ontario university. The prizes have a value of $15,000 each and are available in the areas broadly defined as Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Economic Science. Western faculty members have won half of all Polanyi Prizes in Literature since 1987.
Early Researcher Award (PREA)
The Premier's Research Excellence Awards were created in 1998 to help Ontario's world-class researchers attract talented people to their research teams and to encourage innovation among the province's brightest young researchers at universities, colleges, hospitals and research institutes.
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada, The Canadian Academy of the Sciences and Humanities, is the senior national body of distinguished Canadian scientists and scholars. Its primary objective is to promote learning and research in the arts and sciences. The Society consists of approximately 1,700 Fellows: men and women from across the country who are selected by their peers for outstanding contributions to the natural and social sciences and in the humanities. Currently, Western has had a total of 40 faculty members appointed to the Society.
Canada Research Chairs
The Canada Research Chairs Program was established by the federal government in 2000 to promote excellence and innovation in research by rewarding the country's leading academics and attracting the best research minds in the world to study at Canadian universities.
Faculty Scholar's Award
Established in 2005, the Faculty Scholars Award recognizes significant recent scholarly achievements in teaching or research. Nominated by faculty deans and selected by the Faculty Selection committee chaired by the Provost, the recipients have an international presence in their discipline and are considered all-round scholars. Winners hold the title “Faculty Scholar” for two years and receive $7,000 each year for scholarly activities, as well as receiving a citation.
