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Call for nominations for the Beers-Bascom Professorship in Conservation

Nominations are now being accepted for the Beers-Bascom Professorship in Conservation. The professorship was established by Mr. William Beers, former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Kraft, Inc. The professorship is awarded to a faculty member in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) who has established and maintained outstanding research, teaching, and service in the area of natural and environmental resources conservation and management.

The Beers-Bascom Professorship in Conservation provides the recipient with an annual research allocation that can be used in support of research activities, including supplies, equipment, research assistants, travel to professional meetings, and other research costs. The appointment is for a five-year term. After five years, nominations for the professorship are re-opened. Current or past recipients may be nominated and considered for reappointment. Only one nomination per department will be accepted.

The nomination packet should contain only the following items:

  1. A brief cover letter of nomination from the nominee’s department chair. This may also include a brief summary of items 2-4 below.
  2. A description of the nominee’s research program and its significance (limit to two pages single-spaced).*
  3. A description of the nominee’s teaching program and accomplishments, including evidence of student evaluation and recent peer evaluations, if available (limit to two pages single-spaced).*
  4. A description of the nominee’s service and outreach accomplishments (limit to two pages single-spaced).*
  5. The nominee’s current, full CV.

*More details on the criteria for selecting the appointee are below.

Please note that the nomination packet may be shared with the donor of the fund, when the donor is notified of the recipient.

A committee chosen from among the faculty members of the CALS Research Advisory Committee will be asked to recommend a recipient.

Please submit nominations electronically to Julie Scharm (julie.scharm@wisc.edu) in the CALS Dean’s Office by Friday, April 24, 2020. Late and incomplete nominations will not be accepted.

Expectations of the Beers-Bascom Professorship in Conservation

Tenured faculty members in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences are eligible to compete for the Beers-Bascom Professorship in Conservation. In the spirit of the original gift honoring Mr. William Beers, recipients should have established and maintained outstanding teaching, research and service credentials in the area of natural and environmental resource conservation and management. The professorship is granted for a five-year period. A faculty member may hold the Beers-Bascom Professorship for more than one five-year term but incumbents must compete with other eligible candidates for subsequent five-year awards.

The following criteria will be considered in selecting appointments to the Beers-Bascom Professorship:

Instruction

  1. Evidence that instructional activities include a strong conservation theme (e.g., course syllabi, textbook development).
  2. Evidence that instructional activities are of especially high quality (e.g., student and peer evaluations, graduate student training and productivity).
  3. Evidence of innovations in conservation education (e.g., new or revised courses that foster principles or practices of conservation).

Research

  1. Evidence of substantial research productivity in the area of natural and environmental resource conservation and management (e.g., publications, grants).
  2. Evidence that research activities are highly regarded by peers (e.g., awards or other peer recognition).
  3. Evidence that research results have improved or lead to changes in conservation practices (e.g., adoption or use of conservation practices by professionals and/or the public)

Outreach

  1. Evidence of leadership in professional organizations having a conservation interest (e.g., elected offices, editorships).
  2. Evidence that results of research and teaching innovations have been made available to others (e.g., workshop participation, invited lectures).
  3. Evidence that outreach activities have had a significant impact on the public and on regional or national conservation programs (e.g., public attitudinal changes, conservation practices adopted).