The candidate must be a full-time faculty member of the university and have completed at least seven years as a full-time tenure and/or tenure-track faculty member at RIT by June 30 of the year in which the award is given. The seven years of teaching do not have to be contiguous and can be interrupted by service such as department head or by official leave.

The nominee must be a full-time faculty member for all of the year in which the award is given and will not be on official leave for any of this period.

The primary responsibility of the nominee, demonstrated by the teaching assignments of the nominee, shall be teaching RIT students. Primary responsibility is defined as at least nine courses for the past three years and three courses in the year of evaluation, as principal instructor in formal RIT courses (classroom, lab, studio, online).

Faculty with administrative titles are not eligible for this award.

The candidate shall not have been a recipient of the award in the preceding seven years.

Nomination committee members are not eligible in the years in which they serve, but they may resign if recommended for evaluation. Members will be replaced as outlined in the Organization and Selection of Nomination Committees section of policy E12.1.

The coordinator of the Eisenhart Awards shall not be eligible but may resign if recommended for evaluation. In the event of a resignation, the chair of the Academic Senate shall submit another name to Academic Senate for approval as coordinator of the Eisenhart Awards. In the interim period, the chair of the Academic Senate shall serve as coordinator.