The Eminent Scholars Committee shall be comprised of one eminent scholar from each college, selected by the college promotion and tenure committee, plus one eminent scholar chosen by the Faculty Senate in order to reflect the affirmative action goals of the university. If a college has no eminent scholar or only one eminent scholar who is ineligible to serve due to a conflict of interest, then the dean and full professors of that college can select a representative from among the full professors from their own college. The representative selected must have no known conflict of interest that would impair or call into question his or her impartiality in evaluating the nominees. It is recommended that each representative will serve on the committee for one three-year term. No dean, associate dean, assistant dean or department chair shall attend, be a member or participate in the deliberations of the Eminent Scholars Committee. The committee will select its own chair, and deliberations shall remain confidential.

The Committee will be convened by the provost and vice president for academic affairs by November 1. At that time, the provost and vice president for academic affairs will brief the committee about its responsibilities and duties. The committee will elect its own chair and set its agenda. The chair, in consultation with committee members, will establish the guidelines to evaluate the candidates.

Nomination will be by any tenured faculty member in the nominee's discipline. The nomination must be a written letter that highlights the applicant's qualification for the designation and submitted to the department chair and dean no later than September 15.

Service in the rank of full professor at Old Dominion University for a minimum of three academic years. Only when eminent scholar status is considered as a part of the initial appointment process may this requirement be waived.

A scholarly publication record or stature in the creative arts which will have clearly established a national reputation as a scholar in the nominee's discipline. Scholarly publications are recognized as those that have received peer review or have been otherwise recognized and critiqued by authorities in the discipline. A consistent pattern of scholarly contributions, invited chapters, scholarly books, invited lectureships, prestigious academic honors, officer positions in the individual's discipline, editor of multi-authored books, organizer or coordinator of symposiums and other similar examples would represent evidence that an individual is a contributing scholar of note to his or her discipline. It is expected that an individual meriting eminent scholar designation will have a long and consistent record of achievement in at least several of the above-noted categories. Moreover, the individual should be one who is easily recognized by other eminent authorities in the discipline, with positive comments on his or her work. It is also important to note that new works in the discipline frequently cite the individual's contributions. His or her scholarly contributions or artistic achievements should at some time or other have been a benchmark, reflecting evolution of the discipline.

Substantial success in obtaining external funding for research - in those disciplines in which such success is expected; and positive evaluations by scholars external to the university who will have been solicited by the department/school chair.

Candidates are responsible for providing sufficient materials to enable the department colleagues and chair, the dean, and the Eminent Scholars Committee to decide whether they meet the criteria. In addition to an up-to-date curriculum vitae, a letter from the candidate should explain why he or she merits this honor and what is being provided to document the request for designation as eminent scholar. Five external reviews by nationally-recognized experts testifying to the national and international reputation of the body of the candidate's work should be solicited independently by the department chair. The candidate is encouraged to solicit additional letters of this kind. A curriculum vitae from each expert should be included. Candidates should provide copies of works (refereed articles, monographs, books, etc.) regarded as representative of their most important contributions over time. Citations, reviews, and information such as awards, invited lectures, and organized symposia or conferences should also be included as evidence of a broad recognition of the importance of the works. Quality of publications-judged by eminent presses and journals, letters, etc.-outweighs quantity in the judging process. No updates may be added after the department/school review is submitted.

Nomination materials should be organized into proper categories, e.g., books, book chapters, peer reviewed journal articles, etc., and properly referenced in the applicant's supporting documents. National/international scholarly and/or creative works must be in a clearly identified and separate category on the vitae and other supporting materials. Each applicant's nomination material will be stored on DVD or password-protected drive that will allow committee members 24/7 access for review.