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Senate Snapshot // September 15, 2026

E-Blast Topics

Return of the Academic Senate
Faculty Support Awards: 
Formerly known as Chancellor's Funds

Faculty Research Lecture Award 
Winners 2026-2027

Announcements

Research Allocation Program (RAP) 
Now Open: September 28, 2026 deadline

School Faculty Councils
Election Results

TK/Kindergarten 
Enrollment Webinars

and other Family Services Information

Return of Academic Senate 
Faculty Support Awards

Formerly Known as the Chancellor's Awards

After a one-year hiatus, the Academic Senate Faculty Support Awards return in 2026-2027 for faculty in the following five series: Ladder Rank, In Residence, Clinical X, Health Sciences Clinical, and Adjunct. 

Funds are still provided by Chancellor Hawgood's office, but as the focus is on the faculty themselves, the Senate Office has renamed the awards.

Call for submissions will be sent out mid- to late-January 2027 with submission through the Senate website or the Senate Service Portal.

We anticipate the following awards being offered if approved by Committee and Council members. Check the Senate website in January 2027:


• Clinical Excellence Awards
• Community Building Awards
• Learning & Development Awards
• Travel Awards - Education
• Travel Awards - Research
• Writing Support
• More awards may be offered….watch for the launch

Faculty Research Lectures 
Selected for 2026-2027

UCSF Academic Senate Committee on Research

The Academic Senate is proud to announce the winners of this year’s Faculty Research Lecture Awards, selected by the Senate Committee on Research:

• Basic Science: Joseph DeRisi, PhD, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

• Clinical Science: Charles Limb, MD, Professor, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

• Social, Behavioral, and Health Policy Sciences: Margot Kushel, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine

The Faculty Research Lectures are awarded to UCSF faculty members who have made distinguished contributions to their field throughout their careers. This year’s winners were selected from a very strong pool of candidates. The lectures will be held later in 2026 and in 2027 – please be on the lookout for more details about each event.

Announcements

Research Allocation Program (RAP)
Now Open: Deadline September 28, 2026

Applications for the Fall 2026 cycle of the Resource Allocation Program (RAP) are now open. RAP is a consortium of UCSF funders, including the Academic Senate, that coordinates multiple intramural research funding opportunities.

Because of the purposes of some of the endowment funds supporting these grants, the Academic Senate particularly encourages applications related to heart disease, cancer, eye diseases, and stomach diseases.

UCSF faculty in all ranks and series and at all UCSF sites are welcome to apply. The e-submission deadline is Monday, September 28, 2026, at 2 PM PST. For more details and instructions on how to apply, please visit the RAP website.

School Faculty Council
Election Results


The Academic Senate congratulates each of the four school Faculty Councils for recent elections of new members to represent faculty interests from their respective schools. Each council aims to partner with school leadership to address issues specific to their faculty.

School of Dentistry Faculty Council

Jean Star, Dawn Stock, and Yan Zhang have newly joined the School of Dentistry Faculty Council. Former Council Chair Guo-Hao Lin has also rejoined as a member for a second term. The Council holds an annual schoolwide education retreat each fall and a full faculty meeting each spring.

School of Medicine Faculty Council

Hind Al Saif, Marc Buren, Adwoa Christy, and Barbara Stuart have been elected to the School of Medicine Faculty Council and Mel Heyman and Kewchang Lee have been reelected! The Faculty Council represents the faculty voice in partnership with the School of Medicine’s leadership team and organizes regular full faculty meetings on topics of importance to the faculty.

Nursing Faculty Council

Kord Kober, Amy Law, and Sandra Staveski have joined the Nursing Faculty Council for a two-year term. Full faculty meetings are held two- to three-times a year.

School of Pharmacy Faculty Council

Dorie Apollonio, Janel Long-Boyle and Samantha Valle-Oseguera have joined the Council newly this fall. The Council hosts two full faculty meetings in the winter and summer.

TK/Kindergarten
Enrollment Webinars

TK/Kindergarten enrollment season for San Francisco’s 2027-2028 school year kicks off this fall 2026. Join Family Services for its annual noontime webinars on the application process for private school (August 26) and public school-SFUSD (October 13). Sign up today.

Other Family Services Announcements:
Returning this fall - Support Group for Caregivers of Older Loved Ones

Explore Lactation Support Strategies for Work and Schools (e-course)

Want More Senate News?

For more on how your Senate committee members and leaders are advancing the academic mission and supporting faculty life at UCSF and systemwide, check out the Senate Check Up Newsletter.