Shameful to ask faculty for nomination?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>If you want to be nominated for an organization’s award and they state that only two faculty members can nominate you and you require the recommendation of the department’s head, then would it be weird to ask your two professors to nominate you and then go to the head for his endorsement? even though you think that you are worthy of that award?</p>

<p>How does the process of nominating work? Are there like secret department meetings where all of the faculty agree to unanimously nominate a student for a particular award? I see no other way in nudging my professors to a organization’s program except by directly confronting them. But I am also worried if the professors will just shun me altogether or give a nicely worded denial.</p>

2

<p>I actually had came across this problem a month ago because I was looking for nomination for a math award. They said “nominated by faculty”, so the professors nominate the students (students may ask for a nomination). </p>

<p>Based on the given information, it seems like you have to ask for nomination. It is definitely a dilemma: What do they think of me as a student? If you really want the award, then go for it. If you don’t, then don’t. </p>

<p>If you want someone to nominate you (say a political campagin), you need to convince the person. You will have to lobby the targets. Don’t just go up to a professor and ask for a nomination without a good speech. Go and make an appointment with the targets, or if you are very close to them, just ask during their office hours. Expect to answer their questions such as "what makes you a good candidate?"Bring in your resume if you have to.</p>

3

<p>Definitely ask for the nomination. I get asked as a professor to do such things not infrequently yet I think almost none of us would nominate anyone for anything if the nominee didn’t take the initiative (even for internal awards…and we rarely know about others outside of our school). So go for it. The worse that can happen is they will give you a polite reason they can not, but it won’t be held against you for asking at all!</p>