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Lamar faculty, staff, students, alumni and retired faculty and staff are invited to nominate outstanding teacher/scholars for the award, which is now in its 22^nd year, said Steven Zani, associate professor of English, who co-chairs the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award Committee with Mary Kelley, associate professor of history.

Feb. 29 is the deadline for nominations.

“This award, which includes a $1,500 stipend, is one of the highest honors accorded a Lamar faculty member,” Zani said.

The recipient for 2008 will be announced May 7 at a meeting of the Faculty Senate. During the fall semester, on a date to be announced, the honoree will present a lecture to the Lamar community and university guests in the University Theatre. The text of the lecture will be published and distributed to those attending the event. Copies also will be sent to the library at each Texas university and to other universities throughout the United States .

Each nominee must be a full-time faculty member at Lamar University “who clearly expresses the university ideal of searching for knowledge through critical inquiry on his or her own discipline, and who supports and appreciates critical inquiry in the other disciplines of the university,” according to selection guidelines. Nominees must have completed one year of service and be currently teaching at least nine credit hours.

“The committee that selects the lecturer is unique in that it is composed of faculty members and representatives from the student body, staff, administration, alumni and faculty retirees,” Zani said. “The entire university and the general community are invited to nominate prospective lecturers, and the committee selects the honoree based on the professor’s proposed topic and on his/her professional background and recognized teaching/presentation skills.”

Zani, a faculty member since 1999, is serving his third year as a chair of the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award Committee. Kelley, a faculty member since 2002, joins him this year as co-chair.

The Lamar Faculty Senate created the committee structure and guidelines for the lecture series, which Lamar initiated in the spring of 1987 and selected John Storey, Regents’ Professor of History, as the first recipient.

Other Distinguished Faculty Lecturers, beginning with the most recent, have include J. Lee Thompson, Christine Bridges-Esser, Kenneth Rivers, Terri Davis, Richard Harrel, Jim Sanderson, R.S. “Sam” Gwynn, Jim Jordan, James Westgate, Keith Carter, Joe Pizzo, Jean Andrews, James Esser, Ronald Fritze, Donna Birdwell, Jerry Newman, Sam Parigi, John Carroll, Naaman Woodland and Bill Pampe.

Nominations must be submitted in writing and mailed to Steven Zani, Co-chair, Distinguished Faculty Lecture Award Committee, P.O. Box 10023 , Beaumont , Texas 77710 . Additional information is available by phone at (409) 880-8563 by fax at (409) 880-8591 or by e-mail at [email protected].