Nominations

Submitting a Nomination

Honorary doctorates are the highest form of recognition offered by the University of Missouri. Individuals selected must be persons of “exceptional distinction … [who have provided] meritorious and outstanding service to the University, the State of Missouri, the United States, or to humanity at large.” The campus Honorary Degrees Committee invites all members of the University of Missouri community to nominates persons to be considered for honorary degrees. The committee seeks a candidate pool that represents the diversity of the campus with respect to personal characteristics, academic programs, and career paths. Note that all nominations must remain confidential.

Nominators are asked to submit the following information about the nominee at this time.

  1. Full name of the nominee
  2. Biographical sketch (the kind of information that can be obtained from publications such as Who’s Who, the Directory of American Scholars, the individual’s website, or other similar sources) – 1 paragraph
  3. Statement regarding how the individual meets one or more of the selection criteria listed in UM Rule 220.030 part 2 – 1 paragraph
  4. Explanation of the nominee’s relevance to the MU campus (see UM Rule 220.030 part 2.c.) – 1 paragraph
  5. Nominee’s CV, if available (may be separate document; not counted in the page limit-please note, the committee understands that these may only be available if the candidate is in an academic field)

 

 

Criteria for Nominations

The basis for the selection of a degree recipient shall be consistent with the Purposes of Honorary Degrees stated in Collected Rules and Regulations 220.030 (last updates 02/2019). Nominees must meet the following criteria.

  1. The nominee must be distinguished, and the person’s achievements must be both relevant and appropriate to the nominating university. Eligibility for nomination is restricted to persons of exceptional state, national or international stature.
  2. The nominee should have a connection with the university or the University of Missouri System. Nominees may be alumni. The nominee could have participated in university-based programs, partnered in scholarly or creative activity with its faculty or students, or assisted the university with programmatic development. Furthermore, the connection could be national or international prominence in a particular discipline in which the university has a program. Alternatively, the nominee may have achieved recognized national or international prominence in their field.
  3. Substantive service to the University of Missouri System or the particular university is not sufficient justification for an honorary degree if the individual does not meet the other criteria for honorary degrees; in these instances, a university award is recommended.
  4. Honorary degrees shall not be awarded to active members of the University governing board, administration, faculty or staff for career distinction achieved at the University, nor to political officials unless retired from political life.
  5. And individual already holding an honorary degree from the University shall not be eligible to receive a second honorary degree.