Outstanding Scholar Awards

This award recognizes outstanding research and scholarship contributions of a tenured or tenure track faculty member at SDSU in the creative or performing arts whose scholarly body of work has led to significant impact on their field of study. The nominee should be recognized as a leader in their field.

Eligibility: Any full-time, tenured, or tenure-track faculty member at any rank who has been at SDSU for at least three years

Prize: $2,000

The following nomination materials are required and should be uploaded as a single PDF within the InfoReady portal:

• Nomination letter (1-2 pages) clearly describing the evidence and impact of the nominee’s work on their field of study
• Nominee’s curriculum vitae (CV)

This award recognizes the outstanding research and scholarship contributions of a tenured or tenure-track faculty member whose body of work falls within the disciplines of the Humanities. The impact of the nominee’s body of work in the Humanities should be significant and establishes the nominee as a leader in their field.

Eligibility: Any full-time, tenured, or tenure-track faculty member at any rank who has been at SDSU for at least three years

Prize: $2,000 (two awards; one supported by DRI and the other supported by the College of Arts & Letters)

The following nomination materials are required and should be uploaded as a single PDF within the InfoReady portal:

• Nomination letter (1-2 pages) clearly describing the evidence and impact of the nominee’s work on their field of study
• Nominee’s curriculum vitae (CV)

This award recognizes outstanding RSCA contributions from a tenured or tenure-track SDSU Imperial Valley faculty member whose work has made a significant contribution and impact to their field of study. The nominee should be recognized as a leader in their field.

Eligibility: Any full-time, tenured, or tenure track faculty member at SDSU Imperial Valley at any rank who has been at SDSU Imperial Valley for at least three years

Prize: $2,000

The following nomination materials are required and should be uploaded as a single PDF within the InfoReady portal:

• Nomination letter (1-2 pages) clearly describing the evidence and impact of the nominee’s work on their field of study
• Nominee’s curriculum vitae (CV)

This award recognizes outstanding RSCA productivity and disciplinary impact for non-tenure track faculty at SDSU. Nominations for this award should describe the impact of the RSCA on the nominee’s field of study and focus on RSCA efforts done at SDSU.

Eligibility: Any full-time, non-tenure track, faculty member (does not include postdoctoral researchers) who has been at SDSU for at least 3 years

Prize: $2,000

The following nomination materials are required and should be uploaded as a single PDF within the InfoReady portal:

• Nomination letter (1-2 pages) clearly describing the evidence and impact of the nominee’s work on their field of study
• Nominee’s curriculum vitae (CV)

Given the important role and contributions of postdoctoral research scholars at SDSU as well as the critical component of mentoring to the training of future scholars, this award will recognize the RSCA accomplishments from work performed in an SDSU postdoctoral scholar position. These accomplishments could include research/scholarship achievements, prestigious awards, inventorship/entrepreneurship, or extramural funding. This award also recognizes the significant contributions to mentoring and training by an SDSU faculty member who is sponsoring the postdoctoral scholar nominee.

Eligibility: Current SDSU postdoctoral scholars who have been at SDSU for at least 1 year and their SDSU faculty mentor

Prize: $1,500 for the SDSU postdoctoral scholar and $1,500 for the SDSU mentor

Nominations can be made by any SDSU faculty member who is not the mentor of the postdoctoral scholar being nominated. The following nomination materials are required and should be uploaded as a single PDF within the InfoReady portal:

• Nomination letter (2-3 pages) clearly describing the accomplishments of the postdoctoral scholar as well as the contributions of the mentor to the training of the current scholar and past scholars, if applicable
• Nominee and mentor’s curriculum vitae (CV)

Bringing research, scholarship, and creative activity into the public arena is an important component of the mission of SDSU. This award recognizes a research or creative activity project of an SDSU tenured or tenure-track faculty member or team that has resulted in significant community and public impact. The public benefit of this project could be local, national, or global.

Eligibility: Any full-time, tenured, or tenure-track faculty member at any rank who has been at SDSU for at least three years; for a team nomination, the team PI must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member

Prize: $2,000

The following nomination materials are required and should be uploaded as a single PDF within the InfoReady portal:

• Nomination letter (1-2 pages) clearly describing the evidence for the clear and sustained public impact of the work
• Nominee’s curriculum vitae (CV) or in the case of a team nomination, the CVs of all team members
• One letter from a community organization that has worked with the nominee or team on the project

2025: Eva Struble nominated by Tina Yapelli

2024: Kerrianne Quick nominated by Gillian Sneed

2023: Sondra Sherman nominated by Kerrianne Quick

2025: Jess Whatcott nominated by Michael Borgstrom and Zamira Abman nominated by Clarissa Clo

2024: Amira Jarmakani nominated by Marie Draz, Jess Whatcott and Christine Knott and Paula De Vos nominated by Pablo Ben

2023: Jessica Pressman nominated by Phillip Serrato and Esme Murdock nominated by Anne Donadey and David Kamper

2025: Magdalena Altamirano nominated by Ricardo Vasconcelos

2024: Jeffery Osborne nominated by David Kanaan

2023: Juan Carlos Ramirez Pimienta nominated by Eric Boime

2025: George Youssef nominated by Tommy Martindale

2024: Chris Mi nominated by Tommy Martindale

2023: Marina G. Kalyuzhnaya nominated by Tommy Martindale

2025: Sonya Schumann nominated by Jenny Gee

2024: Mary Baker-Ericzén nominated by Charles Degeneffe

2023: Nathan Dodder nominated by Jenny Quintana

2025: Anupama Singh and Robert Luallan nominated by Cristal Zuniga

2024: Amanda Miller and Susan Kiene nominated by Eyal Oren

2023: Jessica Baker and Jennifer Thomas nominated by Susan Brasser

2025: Sarah Rieth nominated by Kelsey Dickson and the department's honors and awards committee members

2024: Bruce Appleyard nominated by Vinod Sasidharan

2023: Annie Buckley nominated by Elise Moersch