Office created to increase recognition
A new effort has been launched at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to increase the number of faculty members who are considered for external honors, awards and distinctions.
The Office of External Recognition and Awards (ERA) and the ERA Committee have been established to help enhance the reputation of Vanderbilt research.
“This is a “must-do” charge from the recent basic science refreshing of the Research Enterprise Strategic Plan,” said Susan Wente, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor for Research and senior associate dean for Biomedical Sciences.
Wente and Vivian Siegel, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Science Communication and the new ERA office, will co-chair the committee of 12 faculty members, each of whom will nominate at least two of their colleagues for major awards this year.
Nominations may be initiated by any VUMC faculty member. The ERA office will support nominations by obtaining information about qualification criteria and deadlines for the nominator and references and by assembling nomination packets.
The office also has created and will maintain a database of external prizes available to faculty members and trainees (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows).
This database, called FIND Prizes, can be found by logging into the current FIND Grants database (www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/findgrants).
Faculty members are encouraged to let the ERA office know of any prizes not currently in the database and if they are being nominated or are nominating others for an award. For more information, contact ERA office administrator Angela Singletary at angela.r.singletary@vanderbilt.edu.