UNO’s first eminent scholar is Dr. Mark Wohar, a Distinguished Professor in the College of Business Administration.
The award was funded by a private donor and allows the chosen professor to teach two classes per semester, rather than three or four.
It also comes with a yearly stipend of $10,000.
Wohar says winning the award is the high point of his career and he feels honored.
He also says there are three reasons why he thinks such honors are important. The first is being able to reward faculty for excellence in research or teaching.
"To have these kinds of things in the college can serve as a carrot so that people who are doing research now can see this on the horizon and know they might be awarded this someday. And third, to be a college that has excellence in research and is to be nationally and internationally known, you need to have these kinds of things so you can attract really good faculty.”
Wohar says he found out about the award just as he was returning from a six-week visiting professorship in the United Kingdom.
The eminent scholar distinction lasts for four years and is renewable.