Jun

The Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award

The deadline has been extended for nominations for the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award to Friday, July 6.

For nearly two decades, the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award (formerly the Secretary’s Distinguished Research Lecture Award) has celebrated excellence in all branches of Smithsonian scholarship. Beginning last year, Secretary Skorton decided to bestow two annual SDS awards—one in the sciences and the other in the humanities—honoring the sustained achievement of an outstanding Smithsonian scholar. Award recipients are asked to deliver a lecture to the Smithsonian community on their research, a luncheon reception is held in their honor, and a $5,000 contribution is made to each prizewinner’s research fund.

The Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award highlights the Smithsonian’s commitment to knowledge—knowledge derived through historical inquiry, the scientific method, rigorous analysis and peer review, and the syntheses that can result from a broad understanding of a particular culture or period. People trust the Smithsonian to care for America’s treasures and pursue and share historical, cultural, and scientific inquiry. Because of that trust, it is important that we uphold our founding principles and James Smithson’s mandate to increase and diffuse knowledge. The two SDS awards, together with the Secretary’s Research Prizes and the Research Tent at the annual staff picnic, offer Smithsonian staff, members of Congress, and the public four opportunities each year to learn about the remarkable work of our colleagues. Each of these events showcases Smithsonian scholars and the new and innovative ways they are sharing knowledge with the world.

Nominations are reviewed by a selection committee of former award recipients, in conjunction with the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars. The committee presents the Secretary with a short slate of candidates from which he selects the award recipient.

The criteria for the award are:

Outstanding and sustained achievement in research
Long-standing commitment to the Smithsonian
Ability to communicate to both a specialist and a nonspecialist audience

Nominations may come from any current Smithsonian staff member and should include the following materials:

A nominating letter that explicitly addresses each of the three selection criteria
An independent letter from another Smithsonian staff member that supplies additional information or perspective on the nominee (additional letters of support from outside the Smithsonian may also be submitted)
A current curriculum vitae of the nominee

All active Smithsonian staff members are eligible for consideration; nominations will be kept active for three years unless withdrawn. Self-nominations are not permitted, and emeritus staff are not eligible.

Nominations should be submitted via email by COB Friday, July 6, to slowikk@si.edu. Please note: This call is for nominations in the humanities only; a call for science nominees will be issued later in the year.

The 2018 selection committee includes Louise Cort (FSG), Tom Crouch (NASM), Bert Drake (SERC), David DeVorkin, (NASM), Giovanni Fazio (SAO), Christine Forman (SAO), Adrienne Kaeppler (NMNH), Nancy Knowlton (NMNH), Ellen Miles (NPG), and Kenneth Slowik, (Chair; NMAH).