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Annual Faculty Awards

Arts & Sciences Faculty Award for Governance

Two annual awards honor faculty members in Arts & Sciences who devote special efforts to helping their colleagues through committee membership and other service.

Arts & Sciences Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence

These awards honor faculty members in Arts & Sciences who devote special efforts to teaching and inspiring their students through lectures, seminars, laboratories, independent studies, and mentoring. 

Arts & Sciences Graduate Faculty Award for Mentoring

This annual award recognizes a faculty member’s exemplary mentoring of graduate students in their development as scholars, teachers, and professionals.

Jennifer and Devin Murphy Faculty Award

These awards recognize outstanding integration of faculty research with the teaching of undergraduate or graduate students.

Thomas A. Graves, Jr. Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching

This annual award recognizes a faculty member for sustained excellence in teaching and is presented at the Commencement ceremony. The award is funded annually and is named for Thomas Ashley Graves, Jr., president of the W&M from 1971 to 1985. Nominees must have more than ten years of service. NTE faculty are eligible for this award. Nomination should include a reasonably complete, but not exhaustive, description of the individual’s accomplishments; no more than five supporting letters from faculty colleagues, students and/or alumni; and a current CV. The President will make the final selection.

Joseph Plumeri Award

Plumeri Awards recognize and reward core virtues that distinguish outstanding faculty members and define excellence at William & Mary. Full-time faculty who have been at William & Mary for at least five years are eligible for the award.

Each awardee receives a $20,000 prize expendable over a three-year period. Faculty members may be selected for the award multiple times, but only once in a five-year period. Faculty who have received a Plumeri Award under the previous format will not be eligible for this award until three years after receiving that award.

Jefferson Award

This annual award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated a deep devotion and outstanding service to the College and whose life, character, and influence on the College exemplify the principles of Thomas Jefferson. The Provost will issue the call for nominations for the faculty Jefferson Awards. Submit nominations to the Provost’s Office.

Jefferson Teaching Award

This annual award recognizes a faculty member with fewer than ten years of full-time service. The person’s personal character, concern as a teacher, and influence have demonstrated the stimulation and inspiration of learning for the betterment of the individual and society, as exemplified in the life of Thomas Jefferson. The Provost will issue the call for nominations for the faculty Jefferson Awards. Submit nominations to the Provost’s Office.

Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia administers the Outstanding Faculty Awards program, which is the Commonwealth's highest honor for faculty at Virginia's public and private colleges and universities. Honorees receive a cash award and a commemorative engraved award. Nominations are handled by the Provost's Office.