Symposia/Distinguished Lecturer Evaluation Guidelines
(1) Stature of the Invited Speaker
Probably the most important criterion is thought to be the extent to which the invited speaker has distinguished him/herself in their field. The committee seeks to judge the speaker's achievements from his/her curriculum vitae, and from the description offered by the sponsoring faculty member(s). It is important for the applicant to justify the designation of this speaker as a Distinguished Lecturer (i.e. one level above the Visiting Scholar designation). This is especially important for applicants nominating a speaker for the Montgomery Lectureship.
Among the criteria used to judge stature are: academic rank and institution, the number and significance of the speakers' scholarly publications (includes books, journal articles and abstracts of meeting presentations) or artistic works/productions, honors or honorary degrees received, volumes, books or journals edited, research grants and contracts secured. (Of course, the committee recognizes that there is great variability in the relative importance of these criteria as a function of field.)
(2) Interdisciplinary Appeal
The subcommittee favors applications in which it is clear that the invited lecturer would appeal to and interact with members of the University community in more than one department or discipline. The Research Council Symposia/Distinguished Lecturer program is viewed as an important mechanism to foster "cross-pollination." Applicants are encouraged to delineate how the distinguished lecturer's visit is being formulated to maximize interactions with UNL faculty in the appropriate discipline(s).
(3) Budget
The subcommittee typically looks very closely at the budgets for this program. Per diem allocations should meet University guidelines. Honoraria should be in line with acceptable norms of the field. Requests for exceptionally large honoraria must be justified in considerable detail. For Symposia, the committee looks favorably upon applicants who have been able to secure external funds to cover a portion of the budgeted expenses.
