ACSP Rising Scholar Award

Eligibility

• Double-check your school's designation as a tier-one (odd years) or non-tier-one (even years) before submitting your application/nomination.
• All nominees must be pre-tenure, tenure-track faculty members in an ACSP full member planning program or department.
• Types of scholarship evaluated include discovery, application, and pedagogy.
• Criteria for selection include early and identifiable signs of scholarly contribution and impact. The intellectual contribution should demonstrate originality, significance, and rigor, as evaluated by the selection committee. The impact on the larger research/academic/professional community and the general public may be evaluated by evidence of impact on other scholarship (e.g., number of citations); impact on the professional community (e.g., planning practice OR the planning academy); impact on a physical community (city, neighborhood, etc.); or impact on policy (e.g., local, state, or federal).

Summary

Established in 2018, the ACSP Rising Scholar Award recognizes early-career scholars who demonstrate strong potential for a meritorious impact on planning scholarship. The award will be given each year using two alternating categories. The two categories are intended to acknowledge differences in emphasis on research across programs, including time allocated for research and resources available to support research.

• U.S. Tier One Research and U15 (Canada) Programs awarded in odd-numbered years. 
  • Link to Carnegie Classification list of programs (click Basic Classification, then click the first choice, Doctoral Universities: Highest Research Activity). A PDF version of this list is also available.
  • Canadian U15 Programs can be viewed here.
• U.S. Non-Tier One and Non-U15 Programs (Canada) will be awarded in even-numbered years.

For 2024, we will consider applicants from Non-Tier One and U15 Research Programs.

Winners will be introduced at the ACSP Annual Conference.

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

Nominations/Submissions

• All submissions require the use of the form at the bottom of this page.
• Submissions must include a letter of nomination, not to exceed two pages, that describes the nominee’s early-career impact on planning scholarship.
• Nominations must include a PDF curriculum vita.
• Nominations must include 1-2 letters of support from ACSP faculty members who are familiar with the nominee’s contributions to planning scholarship.
• One nomination per member school.
   

Deadline

The deadline for submission of applications is June 1.  All submissions for this award must use the form on this webpage.