University of Mississippi Faculty Laureates showcase excellence in academic inquiry, creative endeavor, and communication. This new program, developed and managed by the Mississippi Lab, leverages award stipends, travel stipends, course releases, and project development funds to empower the creativity of faculty from all disciplines who work on the Oxford campus of the University of Mississippi. Their dynamic work makes possible new alliances, projects, and knowledge. Laureates amplify the impact of higher education in Mississippi and beyond.

Underwritten by the Dr. Daniel W. Jones Endowment for Faculty Support.

Logo by students in Tyler Barnes’s graphic design class at the University of Mississippi.

To enter, email hr@olemiss.edu and they will send you the application.

Goals

  • Introduce Mississippi to UM faculty

  • Showcase the impact of higher education in Mississippi

  • Retain and grow creative faculty

  • Encourage and enable creative work

  • Build new alliances, projects, and knowledge

Eligibility

  • Faculty with 5 years minimum experience at UM at time of application

  • ALL fields and disciplines are eligible

  • Lecturer, Instructional Associate Professor, Associate Professor, or higher  

  • 2-3 Laureates selected every 2 years

  • Actual number based on strength of field

  • 2-year terms

Compensation

  • 50 percent course release (2 class release per semester if class load is 3-3)

  • $ to departments to cover classes, arrangements made via department chairs and Provost

  • $7.5k yearly Laureate stipend

  • $10k yearly Laureate travel budget, rollover possible

  • $5k initial Laureate project funds

  • At 6 months, Laureates propose full projects and apply for additional project funds

Schedule

  • Call for applications October 30, 2023

  • Applications due January 30, 2024

  • Narrow applicants to finalists by February 15

  • Applicant interviews completed by March 15

  • Announce Laureates April 1

  • Start August 15, 2024

Application

  • Department chair support required

  • Three Questions, 1,000 words total:

    • Why do you want to serve as a University of Mississippi Laureate?

    • What programs and projects will you research and plan?

    • What good will you do, and what audiences will you reach?

Selection

  • 7 jurors

  • 3 meetings per year

  • Narrows field to finalists (edited)

  • Each finalist gets one interview with jury (edited)

 

Jurors

  • Thomas Andre, Exercise Science

  • Nancy Maria Balach, Institute for the Arts

  • Shawnboda Mead, Vice Chancellor Diversity and Community Engagement

  • John T Edge, Mississippi Lab

  • Vanessa Gregory, Journalism and New Media

  • Cecille Labuda, Physics and Astronomy

  • Andre Liebenberg, Business and Insurance