Early Career Research Award

Each academic year the College of Arts and Sciences recognizes and rewards faculty members with outstanding research programs in the early stages of their career. Those selected will be designated as "College of Arts and Sciences Early Career Research Award (ECRA) winners." Each recipient will receive $500 to be used for research (not for salary) and a plaque as tokens of this recognition. 

Eligibility

For consideration, a candidate for one of these awards must be a full-time faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Memphis, be employed for no more than five academic years in that position, and be no more than eight years beyond receiving the terminal degree, prior to the semester of application. No past recipient will be eligible to receive the award again.

To be considered for the current academic year, a candidate must have been employed full-time at the University of Memphis for no more than five (5) academic years as of Fall 2025 (i.e., no earlier than Fall 2020) and a tenure-track faculty member. Additionally, candidates may not be more than 8 years beyond receiving their doctorate as of Fall 2025 (i.e., no earlier than 2017). Past winners are not eligible.

Nomination 

Candidates may be nominated by any faculty member or administrator employed full-time by the U of M in the semester of nomination. Self-nominations are permitted. Each nomination should be in the form of a letter or memorandum describing the research accomplishments of the nominee and his/her appropriateness for an award. Because the selection committee is interdisciplinary, care should be taken to explain the nominees research and accomplishments in a way that is accessible to those outside the nominee's field.

Nominations must be submitted electronically here . 

Procedure

All nominees will be informed in writing of their candidacy by the dean's office. Those wishing to accept the nomination must:

• Update their University CV in the University of Memphis CV system (as the committee will be looking at it in order to make their selection), 
• submit a cover letter (no more than two pages in length) summarizing their research and their qualifications for the award, and
• solicit one additional letter of support (internal or external). 

The College of Arts and Sciences Council for Research and Graduate Studies will select a committee composed of one of its members from each of the discipline groups within the College (Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences). This committee will evaluate nominations and select the recipient(s) of the award(s). Nominations are good for two years. Those candidates that are not selected the first year will have their nomination and materials considered the following year. If a candidate does not meet the eligibility requirements from the original nomination they will still be eligible to be in the pool. This is because the candidate meet eligibility requirements when they were originally nominated.

The name(s) of the individual(s) selected by the Council to receive award(s) will be forwarded to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for appropriate action and announcement.

Be sure and visit the College of Arts and Sciences Accolades Website for other award information.