Awards & Honors

Numerous university-wide awards honor faculty members and graduate teaching assistants for their excellence in teaching, service, and research. Faculty Affairs, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, and the Writing in the Disciplines program manage the nomination and selection processes.

Winners of the Trachtenberg Prize for Teaching Excellence and the Bender Teaching Award are also inducted into the GW Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for Teaching Excellence

This award is presented to a tenured member of the faculty who regularly teaches undergraduate students.
Faculty members must be nominated by an undergraduate student for this award. The faculty member’s nomination must be supported by their department.
View a list of previous winners of the Trachtenberg Prize for Teaching Excellence.

Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for Service

This award is presented to a tenured member of the faculty to recognize exceptional service to GW.
Emphasis will be put on service that is voluntary, above and beyond the usual or required faculty service, and on service that is university-wide.
Faculty, staff, and students may nominate a tenured member of the faculty for this award. The faculty member’s nomination must be supported by their department.
View a list of previous winners of the Trachtenberg Prize for Service.

Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for Scholarship (Research)

This award is presented annually to a tenured member of the faculty who has made significant original contributions to research and/or creative endeavors.
The purpose of this award is to recognize outstanding research accomplishments while they are being made rather than years afterward.
Faculty members must be nominated by another faculty member for this award. The faculty member’s nomination must be supported by their department.
View a list of previous winners of the Trachtenberg Prize for Scholarship.

Morton A. Bender Teaching Awards

This award recognizes excellent teaching of undergraduate, graduate and professional courses at GW. Full-time and part-time faculty who have taught at GW for at least two consecutive years are eligible.
Faculty may be nominated by a department chair, faculty member, student, or they can self-nominate. The faculty member’s nomination must be supported by their department.
View a list of previous winners of the Bender Award.

Philip Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards

This award is given to GW Graduate Assistants who have had at least three semesters of GA experience. The committee considers evaluations from students and supervising professors, as well as the quality of the GA’s academic work.
GAs may be nominated by any GW student or faculty member.
View a list of previous winners of the Amsterdam Award.

Office of the Vice Provost for Research Faculty Awards

These awards are given to faculty members who have made significant contributions in research and scholarship, are promising early career researchers, or have made an impact on the academic and professional development of students and postdocs in the areas of research and scholarship.
Full-time faculty members, including research faculty, are eligible for these awards.
View a list of 2022 winners of the OVPR Awards.

Writing in the Disciplines (WID) Distinguished Teaching Awards

These awards honor faculty members and graduate teaching assistants each year who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and planning Writing in the Disciplines courses.
Faculty awards may be nominated by any student, colleague, or chair, or may be self-nominated. Graduate student awards may be nominated by any student, colleague, faculty mentor, chair, or director of graduate studies, or may be self-nominated.
View a list of previous winners of the WID Teaching Awards.

GW Inventor of the Year

Launched in 2022, this award is presented annually to a regular, full-time faculty member who has had an outstanding impact on society through invention and commercialization activities.
Faculty may be nominated by another faculty member, department chair, or vice/associate dean.
The nomination must be supported by the department chair and vice/associate dean, and endorsed by the TCO.