The Jere W. Morehead Honors College celebrates excellence across the faculty through its Distinguished Faculty Awards. These awards recognize outstanding faculty who have demonstrated a notable commitment to high-quality instruction and creativity related to the teaching and mentoring of students in the Morehead Honors College.

The Morehead Honors College presents four faculty awards each year: the J. Hatten Howard III Award, the Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor Award, the Morehead/Bullock Outstanding Honors Faculty Award, and the Floyd C. Newton, Jr. Outstanding Honors Faculty Award. Determined by the Morehead Honors College Teaching Awards Committee, these awards are presented annually at our graduation banquet.

Award criteria

Faculty excellence is interpreted broadly to include significant, distinct contributions to undergraduate instruction and mentoring of Honors students. For this reason, no single set of criteria for nominations is specified. Criteria may include but are not limited to:

• Creativity in the development of one or more
  • Honors courses (e.g. demonstration of developing new topics relevant to student career goals)
  • Instructional materials and technologies (e.g. innovation in design and delivery of content)
  • Instructional programs (e.g. providing learning opportunities that extend beyond the classroom)
• Demonstrated engagement with current and former Honors students (e.g. role model for distinguished young scholars in the discipline)
• Impactful contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning

Eligibility

Eligible faculty may be from any rank in any track at UGA and should be engaged in Honors instruction and/or mentoring. Individuals who have received an award from the Morehead Honors College in the past five years are not eligible for re-nomination.

Process

Nominations for the Distinguished Faculty Awards may be submitted by any UGA faculty, student, or staff during the open call period. Self-nominations by eligible faculty are welcomed.

Nominations closed October 30, 2025. They will reopen in fall 2026.

Upon receipt of nominations, the Honors College associate dean will contact the nominees and request a dossier of their achievements relevant to these awards.

Dossier requirements

A dossier as a single PDF, not to exceed 15 pages (including appendices / letters), should be submitted by the nominee with the following required contents:

• A cover letter (2-page maximum) describing your teaching philosophy and the instructional activities and achievements to be considered (please make references within this letter to other evidence included with the dossier)
• A brief letter of support (2-page maximum) from your dean, department head, or director
• History of instruction workload (number of Honors courses and students taught or mentored)
• 1-2 letters of support from Honors students
• Evidence of external recognition for accomplishments in classroom teaching and/or instructional development (former student testimonials, professional associations, etc.)

Dossiers must be submitted via InfoReady by 5:00 pm, December 5, 2025.

The Morehead Honors College Teaching Awards Committee will conduct review of submitted dossiers and provide recommendations for awards to the dean. Committee members are not eligible to receive awards while serving.

Award recipients will be notified in early February and honored at the Morehead Honors College Graduation Banquet on March 31, 2026.

Faculty teaching and mentoring awards

J. Hatten Howard III Award: J. Hatten Howard III was an associate professor in geology and was a dedicated young faculty member teaching Honors courses. Following his untimely death in 1992, the J. Hatten Howard III Honors Teaching Award was established to recognize faculty members who exhibit special promise in teaching Honors courses early in their careers. For a list of recipients, visit https://honors.uga.edu/faculty/faculty-teaching-awards/hatten-howard-award/.

Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor Award: The Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor Award was originally named the Outstanding Honors Professor Award. The award was dedicated to Lothar Tresp in the mid-1990s. In 1960, Dr. Tresp began teaching Honors students as a professor of history. He became interim director of the Honors Program in 1965 and director in 1967. He retired from the University of Georgia in 1994. The Tresp Award recognizes superior teaching and dedication to Honors students. For a list of recipients, visit https://honors.uga.edu/faculty/faculty-teaching-awards/tresp-award/.

Morehead/Bullock Outstanding Honors Faculty Award: The Morehead/Bullock Outstanding Honors Faculty Award was established in 2025 and is named in honor of Jere W. Morehead, UGA’s 22nd president who was director of the Honors Program from 1999-2004, and Charles Bullock, a Richard B. Russell Professor, Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, and University Professor who, in 1970, was the first recipient of what became the Lothar Tresp Outstanding Professor Award. This award recognizes faculty members of any rank for superior teaching, mentoring, and dedication to the growth of Honors students. Recipients are selected by the Morehead Honors College. For a list of recipients, visit https://honors.uga.edu/faculty/faculty-teaching-awards/morehead-bullock-award/.

Floyd C. Newton, Jr. Outstanding Honors Faculty Award: The Morehead Honors College’s newest award, the Floyd C. Newton, Jr. Outstanding Honors Faculty Award, will first be awarded in 2026 and recognizes faculty members of any rank for superior teaching, outstanding instruction, and dedicated mentoring of Honors students. Floyd was a 1939 graduate of the university; he was a member of Kappa Alpha, Phi Beta Kappa, Sphinx, Gridiron, editor-in-chief of the 1939 Pandora, ODK, cadet colonel and corps commander R.O.T.C., Phi Kappa Phi and a Rhodes scholarship nominee. He was the fifth consecutive generation of Newtons to attend the University of Georgia. Most importantly, he was a tireless advocate of UGA athletics and academics for his entire life.