Convocation is a time for the university community to come together and officially usher in the academic year by celebrating academic and service honorees, selected by their peers, to be awarded for their achievements. 

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For questions regarding the ceremony, please email events [at] umd [dot] edu.

Convocation 2020 Honorees 

President’s Medal

The President’s Medal is the highest honor bestowed upon a member of the university community. It is intended to recognize extraordinary contributions to the intellectual, social, and cultural life of Maryland. 

Marcio Oliveira

Kirwan Faculty Research and Scholarship Prize

This prize is presented annually to a member of the faculty in recognition of a highly significant work of research, scholarship or artistic creativity that has been achieved within the past three years. 

Derek Richardson

Kirwan Undergraduate Education Award

This prize is presented annually in recognition of the faculty or staff member who has made exceptional contributions to the quality of undergraduate education at the university. 

Todd Cooke

President's Distinguished Service Award

The President’s Distinguished Service Awards recognize exceptional performance, leadership and service by members of the university staff. The recipients of this award have a record of exemplary performance and distinctive contributions to the operation of an administrative, academic, research or service unit on campus. 

Margaret Gibbs

Diane Krejsa

Ana Palla-Kane

Ross Stern

Colleen Wright-Riva

Provost’s Excellence Award for Professional Track Faculty

Chengquan Huang (Research)

Igor Puchtel (Research)

Lisa Boté (Teaching)

Marcia Shofner (Teaching)

Roy Walls (Teaching)

Roohollah Ebrahimian (Service)

Christine Harvey (Service)

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

Winners of the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher awards represent a broad range of academic excellence. The program honors tenured faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments as educators. Each scholar will present a lecture during the school year. 

Steven Klees

Thomas Murphy

Xiaoli Nan

Rochelle Newman

Derek Paley

Saúl Sosnowski

Distinguished University Professor

The highest honor the university bestows, this title is conferred in recognition of extraordinary achievement as a teacher, scholar, and public servant. 

William Fagan

James Farquhar

Dinesh Manocha

Peter Reuter

Aravind Srinivasan

Ruth Enid Zambrana