The Grainger College of Engineering

Alumni Award for Distinguished Service Nomination Information

Nominate Your Alumni

The Grainger College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service is conferred upon exceptional alumni each year. Recipients are recognized for professional distinction through outstanding leadership, contributions to the field of engineering, creativity, and entrepreneurship; as well as service to society, the professional community, and to the department, college, or university.

This is meant to be an internal resource for departments to find information about the nomination process, including nomination criteria, important dates, a link to the nomination portal, and a link to past recipients. Please bookmark this page for future reference.


Nominate Your Alumni

Important Dates

  • Nominations Due:
    October 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
  • Recipients Notified (anticipated):
    November 10, 2025
  • EAC Informed of Confirmed Recipients (anticipated):
     January 30, 2026

Helpful Links

Nomination Criteria

It is important for the nominators to stress the noteworthy facts, position, awards, or accomplishments of the nominees. Please discuss the nominee's contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion in any of the appropriate areas. Nominations are judged on the following points.

Record of Accomplishments in Engineering, Science, or Other Fields. Nominees should be strong in one or more of the following areas:

Contributions to knowledge (cite one or two specific examples and explain impact and uniqueness). Examples: experiments; research accomplishments; applications of knowledge; books; leadership in professional organizations; other.

Leadership accomplishments (for one or two outstanding accomplishments, specify scope in terms of people, budget, resources, outcome, impact on profession and society). Examples: projects; devices; networks, systems; government agencies; military; administration; other.

Creativity and entrepreneurship (give some specifics such as impact or scope). Examples: patents; inventions; founding a new enterprise; other.

Fostering the development of young people (cite a specific contribution with indication of scope and impact). Examples: educator; mentor; volunteer work; other.

Record of Service in Engineering, Science, or Other Fields. Nominees may be strong in one or more of the following areas:

Service to professional community. Examples: membership in organizations; offices or committees (if possible, cite one or two accomplishments); other.

Service to the university, college, and department. Examples: service to Alumni Association or constituent group; service to UI Foundation; other services to department, college, or university.

Public service. Examples: community service groups; charitable organizations; political organizations; other. 

Selection and Planning Details

Solicitation: A memo is sent to department heads and the college awards committee members requesting nominations. Nominations are requested months in advance to allow time for advance notification of recipients. Departments may nominate up to 3 individuals per year. Attendance at the college awards ceremony is generally required for receiving the award. If you have a nomination from the last three years that you would like to roll-over, email Jerilyn Hutson, Director of Alumni and Donor Engagement, with a maximum 1-page addendum to your original submission. The addendum should include a brief summary of why you are re-nominating the individual, along with any updates or new achievements the selection committee should take into consideration. Your addendum should also discuss the nominee's contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion in any of the appropriate nomination areas. Nominations more than 3 years old will require a new submission.

Selection: Nominations are ranked by the full college awards committee. The Dean of the college reviews and makes final decision.

Notification: Recipients are informed of their selection by letter from the Dean. When the response is received from each recipient, copies of the response are communicated to the Associate Dean for Advancement for further planning.

Publication: The Advancement Office will work with the College's Communications Office to prepare a biographical sketch of each recipient. The recipient’s bio and photo will be shared with department communicators and made available on the College’s awards website. If the event is held in person, these bios will be placed in an awards booklet that includes a listing of all past recipients of this award. An announcement will be shared with alumni, donors, faculty, staff, and students announcing the award recipients. News releases will also be made available for each recipient if they desire one.

Logistics: The central Office of Advancement will work with appropriate advancement staff and Department leadership to develop an itinerary for the award recipient during their visit. In addition to the awards ceremony and dinner, other activities may include meetings with college administrators, department faculty, and students.