The L&S Faculty Award recognizes and celebrates outstanding L&S faculty members for their exceptional scholarship, service to the College and community, and transformational teaching.
The extraordinary recipients not only embody the excellence of the College of Letters & Science, but they also serve as an inspiration to the entire campus community. An annual awards ceremony to celebrate the recipients is held each spring.
David Blackwell Award
Fumi Okiji
Associate Professor in the Department of Rhetoric
Benjamin Safdi
Associate Professor in the Department of Physics
Beatriz Manz Award
Roshanak Kheshti
Professor in the Department of Theater, Dance & Performance Studies
Cristina Mora
The Chancellor's Professor of Sociology and Chicano/Latino Studies and the Co-Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies
Aaron Parsons
Professor in the Department of Astronomy
Jessica Blanche Peixotto Award
Carla Hesse
Peder Sather Professor of History
James Hurley
Professor; Kirsch Springer Chair in Biological Sciences
David Blackwell Award
The David Blackwell Award is awarded to faculty recently promoted to tenure.
David Blackwell (1919-2010), Professor of Statistics, was the first African American tenured professor at UC Berkeley. In 1965, he became the first African American scholar to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Blackwell has an incredible history full of accolades, including the Berkeley Citation, the highest honor bestowed by UC Berkeley. A remarkable teacher and mentor, he had a residence hall named after him by Chancellor Christ in 2018.
Beatriz Manz Award
The Beatriz Manz Award is awarded to faculty recently promoted to full professor.
Beatriz Manz was the first Latina full professor at Berkeley. She directed the Berkeley Center for Latin American Studies and also chaired the Department of Ethnic Studies. Her research as an anthropologist has been focused on human rights and justice, particularly among the Mayans in Guatemala. The Committee chose Professor Manz for an award namesake honor because of her exemplary balance of scholarship, teaching, service, and work for the common good.
Jessica Blanche Peixotto Award
The Jessica Blanche Peixotto Award is awarded to faculty recently promoted to professor above scale.
Jessica Blanche Peixotto (1864-1941) was the first woman to become a full professor, the first woman to Chair a department at UC Berkeley, and the second woman to earn a Ph.D. from Berkeley. Her work was in social economics, including a comparison of wages and spending in the US and France. She was also active in public service and served on the Council of National Defense during World War I.
Eligibility
L&S faculty may be considered for this award 1-2 years after their last major promotion (assistant to associate; associate to full; full to above-scale).
Selection Criteria
Recipients of L&S Faculty Awards are recognized for:
- Inspiring scholarship
- Service above and beyond themselves
- Leadership
- Being a changemaker in their field(s)
- Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and justice
- Student mentorship
Nomination Process
The Faculty Awards Working Group, a sub-committee of the L&S Advisory Board, accepts nominations from divisional deans each fall, which are reviewed in January and February. The materials that inform the Working Group include excerpts from the promotion dossier as well as a recommendation letter from the divisional dean.