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College of Medicine: Faculty Affairs

Faculty Awards

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Dean’s Honor Day

The College of Medicine celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of faculty and staff each spring at the annual Dean’s Honor Day Ceremony. Awards recognize excellence in education, research, clinical care, humanism and service. Faculty who are receiving promotion and/or tenure during the year also are recognized during the ceremony.

Watch for information about next Dean’s Honor Day ceremony in early 2026!

Read about the 2025 Dean’s Honor Day ceremony here.

Previous Dean’s Honor Day Award Honorees

The College of Medicine (COM) congratulates the many team members who received faculty and staff awards in previous years. The most recent recipients in each category are noted below. Here is a cumulative list of honorees.

Awards & Criteria

Please see below for specific criteria, submission requirements and other details for all awards except Residency Educator awards, which are described in full and submitted through the GME Educator Awards website. In general, other faculty award nominations require a letter of nomination and the nominee’s CV. Staff award nominations require a letter of nomination. Nominees can only win in one award category in a given year. Nominations are submitted through an online portal. Links to the form will be available on this page when the next nomination period opens.

Who can submit nominations:

Chairs – can nominate candidates for all faculty and staff awards.

Faculty – can nominate for all faculty awards except Master Teacher, and can nominate for all staff awards.

GBA/department administrative leaders – can nominate candidates for Staff Excellence Awards.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

Distinguished Faculty Service Award

The Distinguished Faculty Service Award is presented annually at the Dean’s Honor Day Ceremony to an active faculty member who has displayed outstanding, broad-based and long-term service to the College of Medicine. Examples of such service might be, but are not limited to, combinations of teaching excellence, excellence in mentoring, research and scholarly activity, clinical service, academic administration in the support of COM faculty and staff, development of new programs, policy development, dissemination of health information to other professionals and the public, etc.

Selection
Faculty members may nominate other faculty members for this award. Please submit a nominating letter explaining why this individual should be considered for this honor, along with the nominee’s CV. The Council of Department Chairs will select the recipient.

Award
The recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Service award will receive a commemorative award (typically a James Hayes art glass bowl with an accompanying inscribed metal disc) and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Robert L. “Lee” Archer, M.D.

Master Teacher Award

The Master Teacher Award is presented annually at Dean’s Honor Day to a faculty member who has consistently demonstrated excellence in education. This will be a singular honor and will generally reflect a significant history of educational excellence. Criteria will include (but not be limited to) the number of students or residents influenced by the educational efforts, the different levels (graduate students, medical students, etc.) of education in which the faculty member has engaged, demonstration of educational leadership and administration, publications related to medical education, length of educational involvement, and innovations in medical education introduced and carried out.

Selection
Department Chairs will be asked to nominate faculty members for this award. Please submit a nominating letter explaining why this individual should be considered for the Master Teacher Award, along with the nominee’s CV. The Educational Awards Selection Committee will make a recommendation to the Dean, who will make the final decision. The Educational Awards Selection Committee will be chaired by the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and will be appointed annually by the Dean from among senior faculty members. A faculty member may not receive this award more than once.

Award
The recipient of the Master Teacher Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Charles Matthew Quick, M.D.

Educational Innovation Award

The Educational Innovation Award is presented annually at Dean’s Honor Day to a faculty member who has demonstrated significant educational innovation. In general, such innovation would take the form of a new method of teaching or evaluation. Examples would be the delivery of information using a new teaching style, the development of new software for teaching or evaluation, or the development of a new curriculum to address a certain need.

Selection
Faculty members may apply for this award. They are asked to submit a brief description of the educational innovation for which they wish to be considered, and their CV. The Educational Awards Selection Committee will review the applications and make a recommendation to the Dean, who will make the final decision. The Selection Committee may also choose their recommendation from the runners-up for the Master Teacher Award, if appropriate.

Award
The recipient of the Educational Innovation Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardees: Beatrice Boateng, Ph.D.; Karina Clemmons, Ed.D.; and Lindsey Sward, M.D.

Educational Research Award

The Educational Research Award is presented at the Dean’s Honor Day ceremony to a faculty member who has undertaken significant educational research. In general, it is anticipated that the recipient of this award will have published in the area of education and will be able to demonstrate a commitment to educational research by the documentation of effort in this area. The faculty member may or may not have obtained grant money to carry out this research, but such funding would be considered a significant positive in the selection of this award recipient.

Selection
Faculty members may apply for this award. They are asked to submit a brief description of their research efforts, along with documentation of any funding received to support the research, and their CV. The Educational Awards Selection Committee will review the applications and make a recommendation to the Dean, who will make the final decision. The Selection Committee may also choose their recommendation from the runners-up for the Master Teacher Award, if appropriate.

Award
The recipient of the Educational Research Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Joshua Daily, M.D., M.Ed.

Graduate Medical Education (GME) Educator Awards

The College of Medicine presents two Graduate Medical Education (GME) Educator Awards each year: the GME Educator Award for Program Directors and the GME Educator Award for Program Coordinators. Nomination details including the online submission form, eligibility requirements and other details can be found on the UAMS GME Educator Awards website.

Award
The recipients of the GME Program Director award and GME Program Coordinator Award will each receive a trophy/plaque and a monetary award.

2025 Program Director: Joana Mack, M.D.

2025 Program Coordinator: Renee Baldwin

Excellence in Research Award

The Excellence in Research Award is presented annually at Dean’s Honor Day to a full-time faculty member who has a distinguished record of research achievement that includes but is not limited to:

  • significant advancement of a specific field of scientific endeavor;
  • establishment of a research program that has held consistent and substantial extramural funding for at least 10 years;
  • a robust publication record within highly reputable journals and other scientific media;
  • established a national and international reputation in his/her research program;
  • developed collaborative and collegial relationships with other UAMS scientists, and
  • provided helpful mentorship to UAMS trainees and faculty.

Selection
Faculty members may nominate other faculty members for this award. Please submit a letter of nomination explaining how the candidate has fulfilled eligibility for the award, not to exceed three pages, along with a current copy of the candidate’s CV. The Research Excellence Selection Committee will meet and review all nominations, and will create a rank-ordered list for the Dean, who will make the final selection of the award recipient.

Award
The recipient of the Research Excellence Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Aline Andres, Ph.D.

Clinical Excellence Awards

The following seven awards presented at Dean’s Honor Day recognize excellence of COM faculty and advanced practice providers/clinical team members, as described below, in specific aspects of clinical work and professionalism that are essential for providing outstanding patient care.

Selection
Faculty members may nominate others for this award. Please submit a nominating letter explaining why this individual should be considered for the award, along with the nominee’s CV for faculty nominees. Recipients of Clinical Excellence Awards are selected by a committee with representation from the UAMS Integrated Clinical Enterprise, Arkansas Childrens and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System.

Physician of the Year Award

Evaluation Criteria:

  • Excellent Clinical skills  
  • Leadership Collaboration
  • Advocacy
  • Clinical innovation
  • Recognition by trainees and patients
  • Must be a physician 
  • Cannot be a previous winner in this category

Award
The recipient of the Physician of the Year Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Viktoras Palys, M.D.

Excellence in Quality and Safety

Evaluation Criteria:

  • Champions the establishment of best practices
  • Demonstrates exemplary performance on recognized clinical outcome measures  
  • Implements tools and processes to improve the patient experience
  • Must be a College of Medicine faculty member

Award
The recipient of the Excellence in Quality and Safety Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Deepa Raghavan, M.D.

Excellence in Service and Professionalism 

Evaluation Criteria: 

  • Models altruism, competence, trustworthiness, and humility
  • Receives exemplary patient and family feedback
  • Must be a College of Medicine faculty member

Award
The recipient of the Excellence in Service and Professionalism Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Kapil Arya, M.D.

Best Consulting Physician

Evaluation Criteria: 

  • Excels in communication with other clinical teams demonstrating flexibility, reliability and commitment to outstanding patient care
  • Must be a College of Medicine faculty member. 

Award
The recipient of the Best Consulting Physician Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: James Meek, D.O.

Clinical Collaborations and Teamwork

Evaluation Criteria: 

  • Consistently demonstrates compassion and empathy in the delivery of care to patients
  • Builds effective collaborative relationships across different groups to define and resolve problems
  • Must be a physician, nurse or care team
  • Cannot be a winner or winning team from last year in this category

Award
The recipient of the Clinical Collaborations and Teamwork Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Vascular Anomalies Team

Rising Star Clinical Faculty

Evaluation Criteria: 

  • Must be a clinician in the first five years as COM faculty member.
  • Recognized by his/her peers for clinical excellence, professionalism, and dedication to patient care.

Award
The recipient of the Rising Star Clinical Faculty Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Stephen Dalby, M.D.

Outstanding Advanced Practice Provider (APP)

Evaluation Criteria: 

  • Provides outstanding patient care at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s or the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System.
  • Exemplifies teamwork and works collaboratively with faculty physicians and other clinical team members.
  • Nominees do not have to be COM faculty or COM employees, but must be nominated by a COM faculty member.

Award
The recipient of the Outstanding APP Award will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Shaneika Lewis-Williams, APRN

Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award

For many years, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation has provided funding or contributed to funding provided by the COM for this award to a faculty recipient who displays humanism, compassion and the additional attributes listed below in their delivery of care, teaching and scholary work.

  • Medical school faculty member with substantial clinical teaching responsibilities
  • Consistently demonstrates compassion and empathy in delivery of patient care
  • Serves as a role model and illustrates professional behavior by example
  • Approachable and accessible to students, welcomes opportunities for teaching and mentorship, and exhibits enthusiasm and skill in interactions with students
  • Shows respect for the viewpoint of others, demonstrates cultural sensitivity in working with patients and family members of diverse backgrounds
  • Demonstrates and models values of diversity, equity and inclusion
  • Displays effective communication and listening skills, understands patients’ need for interpretation of complex diagnoses and treatments and works to ensure comprehension
  • Sensitive to patients’ psychological well-being as well as identifying emotional concerns of patients and family members
  • Cooperative, respectful, easy to work with and engenders trust and confidence
  • Adheres to professional and ethical standards
  • Committed to reflection and objective self-evaluation
  • Displays competence in scientific endeavors

Selection
Faculty members may nominate other faculty members for this award. Please submit a letter of nomination briefly describing why the candidate meets the criteria above, along with the nominee’s CV. The Educational Awards Selection Committee evaluates nominations and makes a recommendation to the Dean, who makes the final selection of the recipient.

Award
The recipient of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award will receive a certificate and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardee: Jonathan Laryea, M.D., M.Sc.

Staff Excellence Awards

The Staff Excellence Awards are presented annually at Dean’s Honor Day to the non-faculty administrative team member (departmental staff, administrative assistants, etc.) chosen from each of the following categories: Administrative, Clinical, Education, and Research. This award recognizes employees who have exemplified service and outstanding work ethic to advance the College of Medicine’s mission and strategic goals.

Selection
Faculty members, as well as other supervisors and managers, are invited to submit nominations for COM staff members in one of the four categories. Please submit a letter of nomination explaining why the nominee has earned this award, along with general information about the person’s role(s), title and service in the COM. The Staff Excellence Selection Committee will determine one recipient for each category.

Award
The recipients each will receive a plaque/trophy and a monetary award.

Submit nominations here. (Link will be activated when the period opens).

2025 Awardees

  • Staff Excellence Award in Administration: Jessica Bulmanski, M.S.
  • Staff Excellence Award in Clinical: Martha Thannisch, RNP, BSN
  • Staff Excellence Award in Education: Celia McCaslin
  • Staff Excellence Award in Research: Lauren Havens, B.A.