Nominations for the awards are made by current and former students to an awards committee, which is comprised of faculty, undergraduate students, and graduate students who were former winners. The committee selects the recipients. Samuel F. Conti was the campus's first vice chancellor for Research and played a key role in establishing the University as a major research institution of international reputation. He also helped establish the fellowship awards, renamed for him last year. Nominations for fellowships are made by department heads to their respective deans, with final selections made by a committee of the Research Council of the Faculty Senate.
Selection is based on outstanding accomplishments and potential for continued excellence.
The recipients of this year's Distinguished Academic Outreach Awards are Ann Forsyth, Henry Lu, and Pa-tricia McGirr, all of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, and David Schimmel, Education. The outreach awards were established to recognize faculty outreach activities and to demonstrate the high value the campus places on such efforts. Schimmel is being recognized as the director of the Community Service Learning Program, through which students combine classroom learning and community service. Nominations for the awards are made to the University's Outreach Council by the deans from each of the campus's nine schools and colleges. A subcommittee of four faculty members and two administrators selected the recipients on the basis of the scholarly nature of the work involved, its impact on the individuals served, and how the work reflects the integration of teaching, research, and outreach.