Objective:
The award honors early career faculty whose scholarly or creative activities have already achieved significant recognition and, crucially, hold strong promise for field-defining impact in the future. This award is open to faculty across all disciplines, including performance based or creative disciplines and those that focus on pedagogical research.
Eligibility:
Early career faculty. Specifically, eligibility is limited to faculty in tenure-track or tenured positions, or the equivalent, who are up to seven years beyond the date of initial appointment to a tenure-track position. The seven-year tenured or tenure-track experience maximum includes tenured or tenure-track positions (or the equivalent) held at other SUNY institutions or at institutions outside of the SUNY system. The nominee must hold a full-time teaching appointment as defined by their campus. Qualified appointments, such as visiting or clinical faculty positions, as defined by the Board of Trustees policy, are not eligible for this award. Nominees must have been employed by a SUNY campus for at least one year and must currently be employed at one of the 64 campuses in the SUNY system. Campuses are encouraged to nominate candidates who reflect the diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and expertise within the SUNY system.
Nomination process:
Each campus must only submit one nomination portfolio for consideration on the System level. The Horizon Award nominations forwarded to the System-level must be the product of a rigorous campus review. Further, the nomination process should benefit from the involvement of a broad spectrum of the campus community. Under no circumstance may faculty apply or self-nominate for this award. Campuses should establish a selection committee to solicit nominations and conduct unbiased evaluations of the merits of proposed candidates and are responsible for forwarding all nominees to the campus Provost for approval. The campus committee must determine that each candidate meets, and preferably surpasses, the selection criteria for the Horizon Award. Initial nominations must come to the campus selection committee from faculty with full professor status in the same or related department or division as the nominee and on the same campus. The nominator must have sufficient disciplinary expertise to determine the qualifications of the nominee for this award. The campus selection committees deliberations and their final recommendation to the campus Provost must be kept confidential.
Nomination portfolio:
- Abstract: 200 words maximum. In this abstract, the nominator must explain the nominees scholarship or creative work and explain its innovative qualities along with its current and potential impact in the field.
- Nomination letter: No longer than two pages. The faculty nominator must explain their connection to the nominee and disciplinary qualifications for assessing the nominees scholarship or creative work. The bulk of the letter must provide evidence for the current recognition and impact of the nominees work and the promise for field-defining impact in the future. It is particularly important to explain the strengths of the nominees work and the recognition achieved in relation to their early career status.
- External letter of support: No longer than two pages. A letter from a senior scholar in the field who is not from the nominees dissertation committee or from their degree granting institution. The external recommender should also not be the nominees postdoctoral supervisor. In this letter, the faculty member must explain their qualifications for making a determination of the nominees caliber as a scholar/artist and provide evidence for the current recognition and impact of the nominees work and the promise for field-defining impact in the future. It is particularly important to explain the strengths of the nominees work and the recognition achieved in relation to their early career status.
- Brief CV: No longer than two pages. Please do not submit additional information or go beyond these page maximums.
The internal deadline for nominations is Wednesdsay, September 17th, 2025.
Please send all nominations to the Provost office for final review and submission. Completed nominations can be emailed to Bailey Benninger at bbenning@binghamton.edu. If you have any questions please contact her by email or at 607-777-6985.