Call for Nominations

Honorary Degrees

Deadline: Expired for 2025

The UWM Honorary Degrees Committee invites nominations of candidates for honorary degrees to be awarded by the University in 2026.

UWM’s honorary degree recognizes a career of extraordinary accomplishment. While there is often a supreme achievement for which a candidate is best known, an honorary degree is not given in recognition of a single deed. Special attention is paid to evidence regarding the sum and distinction of the individual’s professional achievements, their personal integrity, as well as the range, substance, and value of the nominee’s outreach activities.

The committee looks for sustained and characteristic activity exhibiting uncommon merit of a moral, intellectual, aesthetic, or statesmanlike sort.  In no case is a financial gift to the university to be a consideration for granting an honorary degree. Faculty legislation requires that at least one-half of the candidates selected have some connection with the university system, the city, or the state.

According to UW System policy, honorary degrees may not be given to current public officials and political appointees at the U.S. national, state, or local government levels; current UW System Regents; UW System employees; and anyone who has previously received an honorary degree from any UW System institution. See UWM’s guidelines in SAAP 1-12, Honorary Degrees (PDF).

Individuals or departments can recommend candidates. Recommendations must be endorsed by a formal academic department or a non-departmentalized school or college and signed by the appropriate dean. A department making more than one recommendation must rank its nominees. Completed nominations packet (see criteria below) must be submitted electronically as one PDF document to the Honorary Degrees Committee, c/o Secretary of the University, (secofunv@uwm.edu) no later than September 26, 2025. 

Due to the sensitivity of the selection process, nominations must be kept strictly confidential. Candidates must not be told of their nomination. Individuals asked to write letters of support should be urged to maintain absolute confidentiality. Nominations are approved by the Honorary Degrees Committee, The Chancellor, the UWM Faculty Senate, and the Board of Regents. The Chancellor contacts candidates only after all approvals are obtained.

Individuals or departments planning to submit a nomination are urged to inform the committee chair of their intentions. A representative of the nominating department will be invited to appear before the committee in support of that department’s candidate. The UWM department or school/college that nominated a candidate selected for an honorary degree will work with the development office to arrange social events held in conjunction with the conferring of the degree.

Nomination Criteria

Nomination materials should be submitted electronically as one PDF, to secofunv@uwm.edu.

No hard copies are required.  Nominations must be treated with strict confidentiality and nominees should not be contacted. *

A complete nomination must consist of the following items:

1. Cover page that includes:
   1. Name, title, and contact information of nominee, and the suggested honorary doctorate title.
   2. The academic department nominating the individual and other units of the university which are endorsing the nomination and recommending it to the UWM Honorary Degrees Committee. All nominations must be made or endorsed by a UWM academic department, school or college and signed by the dean.
   3. Name, title, email, and phone number of person bringing the nomination before the primary sponsoring unit.       
   4. Department and/or school/college, and names and signatures of individuals transmitting the nomination to the Honorary Degrees Committee.
2. A summary (not to exceed two pages) of the career of the nominee, including a statement of professional achievements, public service or other outstanding contributions, with a brief statement as to why the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in particular should grant this person an honorary degree.
3. At least three (preferably not more than six) confidential letters of recommendation from recognized professionals in the field of expertise of the nominee, solicited by the nominating unit. Letters should be from individuals who are familiar with the nominee’s qualifications and able to comment upon them. If possible, the letters of recommendation should include contact information for the letter writer.
4. A curriculum vitae, resume, or biography of the nominee is strongly recommended.

* The individual(s) forwarding the nomination affirm that (as far as they are aware) strict confidentiality has been observed in preparing this nomination, and that this confidentiality requirement has been communicated to writers of support letters.

Ernest Spaights Plaza Award

Deadline: April 6, 2026

The UWM Honorary Degrees Committee invites members of the UWM community to nominate individuals associated with the university to be honored by inclusion on the Spaights Plaza marker in 2026. Ordinarily, eligible nominees must have terminated their formal relationship with the institution for one calendar year. However, exceptions will be made for the nominations of persons who have ended their formal connection with the university within less than a year, should their health place them at risk.

Inclusion on the Spaights Plaza marker is one of the highest honors awarded by UWM to a member of the university community and is an enduring means by which the institution pays tribute to colleagues who have made significant and lasting contributions to the university.

Nomination Criteria

Individuals whose names shall appear on the structure shall have been nominated by one or more persons. Each nominee to be honored shall have:

1. had a formal connection with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee or one of its predecessor institutions, for example, as faculty, student, staff, member of the UWM Foundation, of the Board of Regents, etc. and
2. ended their formal connection with the University at least one year prior to nomination, whether by honorable departure, official retirement, or death and
3. made significant, enduring, and institution-wide contributions to the growth, development, and mission of the university.

In the context of the Ernest Spaights Plaza, “significant, enduring, and institution-wide contributions” shall be those which have had a publicly recognizable beneficial effect upon the growth and development of UWM.

“Official retirement” is defined as the date that the faculty or staff member becomes a Wisconsin Retirement System annuitant. Part-time affiliation with UWM as an annuitant does not constitute a “formal connection.”

Process for Submitting Nominations

Letters of nomination for the Ernest Spaights Plaza Award should be accompanied by at least three supporting letters and a resume or other appropriate summary of the candidate’s contributions. The letter of nomination and supporting letters should document specific accomplishments of the candidate and describe and explain specifically how these accomplishments “contributed to the growth, development, and mission of the university,” especially those accomplishments that went beyond the scope of, or transcended, their department and/or college.

Because of the sensitivity of the selection process, the need for strict confidentiality at all stages of this process is strongly emphasized. Prospective candidates should not be approached beforehand. Individuals who are called to write letters of support should be urged to maintain absolute confidentiality.

Submit attached nomination cover sheet and all nomination materials electronically, as one PDF, to the Office of the Secretary of the University (secofunv@uwm.edu) and label as Spaights Plaza Award Nomination.

All nominations materials are considered confidential.