Fowler V. Harper Award for Excellence in Legal Scholarship
The Fowler V. Harper Award for Excellence in Legal Scholarship is conferred solely on the basis of the recent
scholarship of faculty members of Ohio Northern University’s Claude W. Pettit College of Law. Other laudable faculty
characteristics, such as teaching and service, are not considered.
Eligibility
All full-time ONU law faculty are eligible for this award. To be considered in a particular year, a faculty member must
submit a list of his or her writings, along with at least one copy of each, to the Fowler V. Harper Award Committee (see
below) by February 28th of the relevant award year. (The law college’s dean should circulate a copy of these guidelines
to the law faculty by January 21st of each academic year.)
Fowler V. Harper Award Committee
Each year the law college’s dean shall appoint three faculty members (one as chair) to constitute the Fowler V. Harper
Award Committee. Two of the three members of the committee must have produced at least one item of eligible
scholarship (see below) within the preceding five years. A faculty member shall not be permitted to serve on the
committee during the year that his or her scholarship is being considered for the award, and no faculty member is eligible
to serve on the committee for more than two consecutive years.
What Constitutes "Scholarship" for this Award
Writings considered "scholarship" for purposes of this award are those listed in the ONU Law Faculty Bylaws, section I
(C)(2). The writing must have been published, produced, distributed, or otherwise given final form in the 18-month
period prior to January 31st of the year in which it is first submitted for consideration. No writing may be submitted for
consideration more than once if the author has won the scholarship award based in part on the writing. However,
unsuccessful applicants may submit an eligible book up to three times and other eligible scholarship twice.
Factors in the Selection Process
Each member of the committee shall read all of the writings submitted. In making its determination, the committee shall
consider the following criteria:
- originality of the work
- depth of the research
- comprehensiveness of the work
- quality of the analysis
- quality of the writing
- value of the work to the legal community.
The committee also shall consider the applicants’ scholarly productivity during the particular award year. The committee
may devise specific scoring and judging procedures, which may include assigning numerical values to the criteria used.
When the committee has made its selection, it shall submit the name of the person chosen to the law college’s dean.
