Faculty & Staff Awards

The College of the Arts & Architecture recognizes outstanding contributions across research, creative practice, teaching, and service with annual faculty and staff awards. These honors celebrate faculty and staff whose work demonstrates excellence, innovation, and meaningful impact within their disciplines and across the college.

In addition to recognition awards, CAA offers seed funding opportunities to support new research, scholarship, and creative projects. These grants encourage project development, interdisciplinary collaboration, and timely special initiatives, helping faculty and staff launch ideas, build partnerships, and lay the groundwork for larger-scale or externally funded work.

The College of the Arts and Architecture Awards and Grants application is now closed. The application will reopen on Sep 1, 2026.

Awards & Grants Overview

Recognition of Excellence Awards

Research, Scholarship, or Creative Achievement Award
$2,000
Recognizes a faculty or academic staff member whose recent body of scholarly work demonstrates significant achievement, innovation, and impact within their discipline.
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Teaching Award for Excellence
$2,000
Honors a faculty or academic staff member who has demonstrated exceptional teaching effectiveness, innovation, and impact over the past three years.
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Staff Award for Excellence
$2,000
Recognizes a staff member whose work demonstrates excellence, innovation, collaboration, and outstanding service to students, colleagues, and the college.
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Seed Funding for Research, Scholarships, or Creative Projects

Project Development Grant
Up to $5,000
Provides seed funding for faculty to initiate new creative or scholarly projects, pilot research activities, or develop preliminary work.
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Interdisciplinary Research Grant
Up to $20,000
Supports collaborative scholarly or creative research that bridges at least two disciplines, departments, or fields of inquiry across the university.
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Special Project Grants
Up to $1,500
Provides small-scale, as available, funding for faculty or staff to support unique opportunities, travel requests, urgent research needs, or special initiatives.
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Research, Scholarship, or Creative Achievement Award

The Research, Scholarship, or Creative Achievement Award recognizes a faculty member whose recent body of scholarly work demonstrates significant achievement, innovation, and impact within their discipline. Awarded for accomplishments within the past 1–3 years, this honor celebrates originality, disciplinary advancement, and contributions that elevate the UWM and the college’s national and international reputation.

Criteria
  • Significant creative or scholarly achievements within the past 1-3 years.
  • Evidence of innovation, disciplinary impact, public recognition, or peer-reviewed dissemination.
  • Creative work may include traditional research, design research, publications, exhibitions, performances, digital work, community-engaged creative activity, or other creative scholarship.
Award
  • $2,000 award.
  • Recognition at the college’s annual meeting.
  • Listing on the college’s awards display.
Eligibility
  • Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty or academic staff in the Peck School of the Arts or the School of Architecture and Urban Planning in the College of the Arts & Architecture.
  • Previous recipients may be considered again after five years.
Selection Process
  • Nominations accepted from any CAA faculty, student, alumni, and staff; self-nominations are also allowed.
  • CAA Awards Committee reviews all complete proposals.
  • The committee forwards recommended finalists to the Dean.
  • The Dean selects the award recipient(s).
Submission Materials

The application requires the following documentation. We recommend preparing materials prior to beginning the application.

  • Nomination letter (up to 2-page PDF describing the nominee’s accomplishments and recent impact) 
  • Candidate statement (up to 2 pages saved as a PDF describing creative or scholarly work) 
  • Letters of support (up to 2 external or internal letters saved as a PDF, 2 pages each). 
  • Evidence of work (creative/scholarly work including portfolio excerpts, publications, recordings, documentation, max 20-page PDF or equivalent) 
  • Curriculum vitae (PDF) 
Timeline

The College of the Arts and Architecture Awards and Grants application is now closed. The application will reopen on Sep 1, 2026.

Teaching Award for Excellence

The Teaching Award honors a faculty member who has demonstrated exceptional teaching effectiveness, innovation, and impact over the past three years. This includes classroom, studio, and beyond-the-classroom forms of teaching, advising, and curricular development.

Criteria
  • Demonstrated excellence in teaching at undergraduate and/or graduate levels.
  • Evidence from the past three years, including student evaluations, peer reviews, and curriculum development.
  • Advising, mentoring, new pedagogical methods, or course innovation may be considered.
  • Contributions to inclusive and accessible teaching are encouraged.
Award
  • $2,000 award.
  • Recognition at the college’s annual meeting.
  • Listing on the college’s awards display.
Eligibility
  • Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty or academic staff in the Peck School of the Arts or the School of Architecture and Urban Planning in the College of the Arts & Architecture.
  • Previous recipients may be considered again after five years.
Selection Process
  • Nominations accepted from any CAA faculty, student, alumni, and staff; self-nominations are also allowed.
  • CAA Awards Committee reviews all complete proposals.
  • The committee forwards recommended finalists to the Dean.
  • The Dean selects the award recipient(s).
Submission Materials

The application requires the following documentation. We recommend preparing materials prior to beginning the application.

  • Nomination letter (2-page PDF) 
  • Candidate statement (2-page PDF describing teaching philosophy) 
  • Letters of support (up to 2 letters saved as a PDF) 
  • Evidence of work (teaching portfolio PDF with up to 20 pages) 
  • Curriculum vitae (PDF) 
Timeline

The College of the Arts and Architecture Awards and Grants application is now closed. The application will reopen on Sep 1, 2026.

Staff Award for Excellence

The Staff Award for Excellence recognizes a staff member whose work demonstrates excellence, innovation, collaboration, and outstanding service to students, colleagues, and the college. This award celebrates staff whose contributions strengthen the culture, efficiency, and community of the college.

Criteria
  • Exceptional performance, problem solving, or innovation in supporting college operations.
  • Demonstrated teamwork, service excellence, customer care, or process improvement.
  • Positive impact on departmental or college culture.
  • Consistent reliability, professionalism, and initiative.
Award
  • $2,000 award.
  • Recognition at the college’s annual meeting.
  • Listing on the college’s awards display.
Eligibility
  • Full-time university staff and academic staff with primary appointment in the Peck School of the Arts or the School of Architecture and Urban Planning in the College of the Arts & Architecture.
  • Previous recipients may be considered again after five years.
Selection Process
  • Nominations accepted from any CAA faculty, student, alumni, and staff; self-nominations are also allowed.
  • CAA Awards Committee reviews all complete proposals.
  • The committee forwards recommended finalists to the Dean.
  • The Dean selects the award recipient(s).
Submission Materials

The application requires the following documentation. We recommend preparing materials prior to beginning the application.

  • Nomination letter (2-page PDF) 
  • Candidate statement (optional 1–2 page PDF written by nominee). 
  • Letters of support (up to 2 letters saved as a PDF) 
  • Curriculum vitae (PDF, staff may submit a résumé in lieu of a CV) 
Timeline

The College of the Arts and Architecture Awards and Grants application is now closed. The application will reopen on Sep 1, 2026.

Project Development Grant

The Project Development Grant provides seed funding for faculty to initiate new creative or scholarly projects, pilot research activities, or develop preliminary work that will lead to external grant applications or larger-scale creative outputs.

Criteria
  • Clear articulation of a new or emerging project with strong potential for future peer-reviewed dissemination, external funding, or major creative outcomes.
  • Feasible timeline and rationale for seed funding.
  • Impact on the faculty member’s research/creative trajectory and on the college’s broader scholarly community.
Award
  • Up to $5,000 for project development.
  • Funds may support travel, materials, equipment, research assistants, data collection, studio space, or preliminary creative production.
  • All funds must be spent within the fiscal year, June to July.
Eligibility
  • Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty in the Peck School of the Arts or the School of Architecture and Urban Planning in the College of the Arts & Architecture.
  • Applicants may submit one proposal per cycle.
  • Previous recipients may be considered again after five years.
Selection Process
  • Proposals submitted directly to the CAA Awards Committee through the Awards & Grants Application.
  • Department Chair endorsement required before submission.
  • CAA Awards Committee reviews all complete proposals.
  • The committee forwards recommended finalists to the Associate Dean.
  • The Associate Dean makes recommendations to the Dean
  • The Dean selects the award recipient(s).
Submission Materials

The application requires the following documentation. We recommend preparing materials prior to beginning the application.

  • Candidate statement (proposal narrative PDF up to 3 pages defining purpose, methods, significance and project plan. 
  • Curriculum vitae (PDF) 
  • Expected outcomes (publications, exhibitions, performances, grant proposals, etc.) 
  • Budget (detailed budget with justification) 
  • Support (list current and pending support) 
Timeline

The College of the Arts and Architecture Awards and Grants application is now closed. The application will reopen on Sep 1, 2026.

Interdisciplinary Research Grant

The Interdisciplinary Research Award supports collaborative scholarly or creative research that bridges at least two disciplines, departments, or fields of inquiry across the university. Projects should demonstrate innovative partnerships and potential for high-impact outcomes.

Criteria
  • Collaboration between faculty across at least two departments, programs, or disciplines.
  • Clear interdisciplinary goals, approaches, and methods.
  • Potential for substantial scholarly, creative, or public-facing impact.
  • Feasible timeline and budget.
Award
  • Up to $20,000 to support interdisciplinary research and creative practice.
  • May include travel, equipment, research assistants, materials, or preliminary project development.
  • Funds must be spent in the fiscal year.
Eligibility
  • PI must be a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the Peck School of the Arts or the School of Architecture and Urban Planning in the College of the Arts & Architecture.
  • Co-investigators may come from any UWM division.
  • Previous recipients may be considered again after five years.
Selection Process
  • Proposals submitted directly to the CAA Awards Committee through the Awards & Grants Application.
  • Department Chair endorsement required before submission.
  • CAA Awards Committee reviews all complete proposals.
  • The committee forwards recommended finalists to the Associate Dean.
  • The Associate Dean makes recommendations to the Dean
  • The Dean selects the award recipient(s).
Submission Materials

The application requires the following documentation. We recommend preparing materials prior to beginning the application.

  • Candidate statement (PDF including interdisciplinary rationale, description of collaborative roles and proposal narrative, 3–5 pages) 
  • Curriculum vitae (PDF, for all investigators) 
  • Expected outcomes
  • Budget (detailed budget with justification including any matching funds and external funding plans, if applicable) 
  • Support (list current and pending support) 
Timeline

The College of the Arts and Architecture Awards and Grants application is now closed. The application will reopen on Sep 1, 2026.

Special Projects Grant

Special Project Grants provide small-scale, as available, funding for faculty or staff to support unique opportunities, travel requests, urgent research needs, or special initiatives that arise outside standard grant cycles.

Criteria
  • Clear purpose and justification for time-sensitive or single-occurrence activities.
  • Demonstrated value to professional development, research, creative practice, or unit needs.
  • Clear impact on CAA and advancing its mission
  • Appropriate and efficient use of small-scale funding.
Award
  • Rolling awards up to $1,500 while funds remain available.
  • Funds may support travel, dissemination, small equipment, project supplies, or special events.
Eligibility
  • All full-time faculty and staff in the Peck School of the Arts or the School of Architecture and Urban Planning in the College of the Arts & Architecture.
  • Applicants may receive only one Special Project Grant per academic year.
Selection Process
  • Rolling submissions reviewed monthly by Associate Dean.
  • Chair or supervisor endorsement required.
  • Associate Dean forwards recommendations to the Dean.
  • The Dean selects the award recipient(s).
  • Awards made until annual budget is exhausted.
Submission Materials

The application requires the following documentation. We recommend preparing materials prior to beginning the application.

  • Candidate statement (one-page PDF describing project, need, and impact) 
  • Curriculum vitae (PDF) 
  • Budget (itemized budget and timeline including proof of additional funding, if relevant) 
Timeline

The College of the Arts and Architecture Awards and Grants application is now closed. The application will reopen on Sep 1, 2026.