President's Award for Excellence in Teaching

Nomination Procedure

Students, peers, staff or alumni may nominate a faculty member with a detailed nomination form (included below) submitted electronically or by hardcopy to the current Chair of the Excellence in Teaching Award.

The Chair of the Excellence in Teaching Award will forward copies of the nominations to the appropriate academic department chairperson.

At the department level, the department chairperson will present all names of candidates at a department meeting to vote on a representative. Past recipients are not eligible. Once a department representative has been selected, the candidate's name is submitted to the Dean. The department chairperson notifies the nominee that her/his name has been forwarded to the dean. Each department nominee then decides whether to submit an abbreviated teaching portfolio in the form of a cover letter limited to four pages about why they should be considered for the award. (See time table below) If the nominee chooses not to submit a cover letter and abbreviated portfolio he or she will not be considered a candidate for the college's nominee.

The Dean and Department Chairs at the next college chairperson meeting review the applications and sends forth one name as finalist to the Chair of the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching Committee. The college finalist will be notified by the Chairperson of the Excellence in Teaching Committee to prepare a detailed teaching portfolio to be submitted to the Chairperson of the Excellence in Teaching Committee. Each College Dean will forward in writing the finalist's name to the Provost. All nominees who were not selected as finalists will be notified by the Dean.

The applications of the finalists will be reviewed by the Excellence in Teaching Committee. The applications should include a notebook (not to exceed two inches) and the following;

Nomination form

Letter of support from a current or former student addressing the award criteria
Reflective summary by the nominee of how his/her teaching meets the award criteria
Nominee’s curriculum vitae
Current selected syllabi/assignments, especially with regard to examples of student learning
Current student evaluations.

Also, the process will include that:

Each finalist will meet with the committee for 30-minutes
The committee will rank finalists and forward the results to the Provost to be presented to the President

Criteria for the Applicant

Maintains teaching as a primary responsibility (at least 9 hours per semester).
Demonstrates an exemplary commitment to teaching and student learning.
Maintains a classroom that promotes high student engagement.
Pursues scholarly growth that enhances teaching.

Acknowledgment

1. A recognition plaque presented by the President at the Annual Honors Convocation.
2. Each of the three finalist's will have $250.00 placed in a university account for professional development.
3. The award recipient's will have $1000.00 placed in a university account for professional development.
4. The award recipient, finalists, and all nominees will be highlighted in the Teaching Excellence publication that is published during Honors’ Month (April).

Timetable for Award

September 26, 2012	Formalize committee with the Provost
October 24, 2012	Nominations due to the Chair of the Excellence in Teaching Award
October 26, 2012	Nominations forwarded to department chairs to distribute for review among faculty members
October 30, 2012	Faculty members vote for one nominee during the department meeting
October 31, 2012	Department chairs submit nominee's name to their Dean and inform the nominee that they need to prepare an abbreviated teaching portfolio
November 9, 2012	Nominees submit portfolio electronically to the Dean's office so that it will be immediately disseminated among all the college's chairs.
November 13, 2012	Department chairs vote for one nominee for their college during the college meeting. Deans submit the names of their college finalist to the Chair of the Excellence in Teaching Award Committee and to the Provost.
November 20, 2012	The Chair of the Excellence in Teaching Award Committee will inform the four finalists.
January 28, 2013	The four finalists will submit their portfolios to the Chair of the Excellence in Teaching Award Committee.
January 30, 2013	Four finalists forwarded to the Committee and the Provost
February 20, 2013	Committee rankings completed and forwarded to the Provost to be submitted to the President
April 7, 2013	Awardee honored at Academic Honors Convocation

Selection Committee

One faculty member from each of the five academic divisions recommended by APSCUF and approved by the President
Two individuals selected by Academic Forum (one faculty, one student)
SGA student representative(s)
One administrator appointed by the President
Award winner from the previous year