Early Career Research Award
Each academic year, the College of Arts and Sciences recognizes and rewards faculty members with outstanding research programs in the early stages of their careers. Those selected will be designated as "College of Arts and Sciences Early Career Research Award (ECRA) winners." Each recipient will receive $500 to be used for research (not for salary) and a plaque as tokens of this recognition. 
For questions, please reach out to Administrative Associate II, Francesca Brant, at fgattuso@memphis.edu or Interim Associate Dean, Dr. Paul Simone, at psimone@memphis.edu.
Eligibility
For consideration, a candidate for one of these awards must be a tenure-track assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of ÃÛÌÒµ¼º½ and may not be more than ten years (10 years) beyond receiving the terminal degree, prior to the semester of application. Finally, the tenure dossier may not be under consideration when the candidate submits their application. No previous ECRA recipient will be eligible to receive the award.
As an example, to be considered for the current academic year, a candidate must be a tenure-track assistant professor whose tenure dossier is not under review. Candidates applying for ECRA during Academic Year 2026-2027 must have their terminal degree conferred in 2017 or later. An eligibility table for future years is presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Eligibility table for Early Career Research Award based on the year a terminal degree was conferred.
|
Terminal degree conferral year |
Last Eligible Year to apply for ECRA as a tenure-track Assistant Professor |
|
2017 |
AY 2026-2027 |
|
2018 |
AY 2027-2028 |
|
2019 |
AY 2028-2029 |
|
2020 |
AY 2029-2030 |
|
2021 |
AY 2030-2031 |
|
2022 |
AY 2031-2032 |
|
2023 |
AY 2032-2033 |
|
2024 |
AY 2033-2034 |
|
2025 |
AY 2034-2035 |
|
2026 |
AY 2035-2036 |
Nomination
Candidates may be nominated by any faculty member or administrator employed full-time by the U of M in the semester of nomination. Self-nominations are permitted. Each nomination should be in the form of a letter or memorandum describing the research accomplishments of the nominee and their appropriateness for an award. Because the selection committee is interdisciplinary, care should be taken to explain the nominee's research and accomplishments in a way that is accessible to those outside the nominee's field.
Nominations must be submitted electronically by Thursday, March 4, 2027,  . 
If you are nominated for this award, the College of Arts & Sciences will notify you via email. Should you be a nominee, your deadline to submit materials to the application page through InfoReady is Friday, March 26, 2027.
Procedure
All nominees will be informed in writing of their candidacy by the Dean's office. Those wishing to accept the nomination must:
- Update their University CV in the University of ÃÛÌÒµ¼º½ CV system (as the committee will be looking at it in order to make their selection), 
- submit a cover letter (no more than two pages in length) summarizing their research and their qualifications for the award, and
- solicit one additional letter of support (internal or external). 
The selection committee for each of the grand divisions within the College of Arts and Sciences is comprised as follows: one member of the Research Council and two tenured faculty members, all from the nominee's grand division. The grand divisions of CAS are Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences. The selection committee for each grand division will evaluate nominations and select the recipient of the award for their respective grand division. Candidates not selected the first year will have their nomination and materials considered the following year, provided they continue to meet eligibility guidelines.
The name(s) of the individual(s) selected by the Council to receive award(s) will be forwarded to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for appropriate action and announcement.
For questions, please reach out to Administrative Associate II, Francesca Brant, at fgattuso@memphis.edu or Interim Associate Dean, Dr. Paul Simone, at psimone@memphis.edu.