President's Frontier Award to support exceptional Johns Hopkins faculty

The university has a new way to support its exceptional scholars who are on the cusp of transforming their fields.

The Johns Hopkins University President's Frontier Award of $250,000 will be given each year to a faculty member who demonstrates significant scholarly achievement and shows exceptional promise for important future work. President Ronald J. Daniels and Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert C. Lieberman made the announcement today in an email to faculty, staff, and students.

The award is being established with a $1.25 million donation from trustee Louis J. Forster, A&S '82, SAIS '83, and Kathleen M. Pike, SAIS Bol '81 (Dipl), A&S '82, '83 (MA).

"We are very grateful for Lou and Kathy's generosity, which enables us to give a significant boost to faculty members who have the expertise and creativity to become prominent intellectual leaders but need more time, resources, or assistance to develop and share their ideas," Daniels and Lieberman wrote. "We look forward to announcing the first recipient in spring 2015 and, over the next five years, watching our brightest educators challenge the boundaries of their work."

Full-time faculty from all Johns Hopkins schools and campuses will be eligible. One recipient will be named each spring through 2019, and those individuals will be able to use the award for a research sabbatical, lab support, hiring of assistants, travel, publication of findings, or other purposes that advance their academic pursuits. Each recipient will give a public lecture at the conclusion of the award year.

The nomination process begins this month; the deadline for submissions is Nov. 10. A committee made up of distinguished faculty from across the university will review the candidates and seek input from appropriate deans and department chairs before forwarding the finalists to the president and the provost to make a selection.

The creation of the Johns Hopkins University President's Frontier Award dovetails with the commitment outlined in President Daniels' Ten by Twenty plan to support bold innovation and the pursuit of excellence across the divisions.