McKnight Professorships

Distinguished McKnight Professorship

The Distinguished McKnight University Professorship honors the University’s most distinguished mid-career faculty.

McKnight Land-Grant Professorship

The major purpose of the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship program is to strengthen the University's faculty for the future. The program is designed to advance the careers of the most promising junior faculty at a crucial period in their professional lives by developing their potential to make significant contributions to their disciplines.

* no longer with the CS&E department

McKnight Presidential Professorship

The McKnight Presidential Professorship recognizes the critical importance of the University’s most distinguished faculty, with an aim to help the University recruit and retain the very best professors and world-class scholars who bring special distinction to the University of Minnesota. Recipients of the award are recommended by their college dean and chosen at the discretion of the president, in part, on their academic and research accomplishments and their contributions to advancing the University among their peers.  Along with the professorship, Professor Papanikolopoulos will receive annual funding to support his research and strategic programmatic initiatives. The award is made possible by a $15 million gift to the University from the McKnight Foundation.

McKnight Presidential Fellows Award Program

The McKnight Presidential Fellows Award program is targeted specifically to the most promising faculty granted tenure and promotion to associate professor. Selection criteria include identification by internal and external reviewers as leaders in their field; potential to build programs that will be in the top tier internationally, ability to advance University priorities; and growing national or international reputation as evidenced by record of scholarship, publications, external funding, invited presentation and symposia addresses, significant awards, or other evidence of recognition for research and scholarship. The award includes research-related financial support.