Guidelines for Nominations for UGFA Teaching Award

1. The Awards

   1. 7 “Distinguished Professor” Awards, one for each college.
   2. Up to 2 “Special Merit Awards” based upon innovation.

2. Purpose

   The awards are intended to provide tangible recognition for excellent contribution toward teaching and learning, broadly defined.

   Individuals may be nominated for an UGFA teaching award on the basis of excellent performance in any of the following areas of teaching:

   1. Classroom instruction, including lecturing, small-group teaching, and laboratory instruction.
   2. consultation with students outside of class, including individual tutoring and advising
   3. thesis supervision
   4. course design
   5. curriculum development
   6. production of educational materials, including textbooks, films, and study guidelines
   7. development of programs to improve teaching
   8. research on university teaching
   9. development of innovative teaching methods
   10. educational planning and policy making, regarding teaching

3. Dates for 2011

   Closing date for Nominations March 25, 2011

   Closing date for Supporting Material April 1, 2011

   Presentation: The citation is normally presented at the annual wine & cheese reception in the fall.

4. Who may nominate

   Nominations may be made by anyone in the University community. Students, faculty, groups of students or faculty, professional staff, support staff, and administrative personnel are all eligible and encouraged to submit nominations.

   No standard nomination form is required, but nominations must clearly indicate:

   1. The name of the nominee
   2. The College and Department of the nominee
   3. The type of award (teaching or special merit)
   4. Documentation to support the nominations
   5. The name and phone number of the nominator

5. Eligibility

   Any member of UGFA is eligible to be nominated and to receive the Award.

6. Criteria

   Evidence of excellent performance in one or more of the categories indicated in 2 may be derived from a number of different sources, including the following:

   1. formal questionnaires for student evaluation of teaching
   2. student petitions
   3. testimonial letters from students, alumni, fellow faculty members, or administrators
   4. objective measures of student learning, including committee-marked final exams and standardized tests

   There are no fixed criteria or decision rules for the selection of UGFA award winners; members of the selection committee may weigh different categories of teaching and different sources of evidence as they see fit. However, a number of broad guidelines have emerged from discussions of the committee, which nominators should take account of in preparing their submissions. Specifically, preference is normally given to nominees who:

   1. have been successful in several areas of teaching
   2. have the support of several constituencies -- for example, students, peers, alumni, and administrators, rather than only a single constituency
   3. are judged to be “truly excellent” rather than merely “very good”
   4. appear to have had an effect upon student learning or cognitive development rather than merely being popular with students or colleagues.

   The nominator’s brief summarizing the various categories of support documentation is the major document which the committee members will study most carefully and upon which they will largely base their decisions. It should represent the core of the case and offer a picture of where and with what priority the supporting documents fit in. Documents seldom speak for themselves; they are invariably more useful when summarized, abstracted and explained by someone on the scene and familiar with the nominee.

   The great majority of nominations have stressed some mix of the following items; classroom presentation, course development, curriculum development, educational material’s development, graduate student supervision, interaction with students out of the classroom.

   Some Pointers:

   1. Do not include raw computer output of course questionnaires; they all differ in format and are difficult to interpret. Therefore, include in your brief a summary of what they say.
   2. Do not include endless letters from friends and alumni saying what a fine person the nominee is. Be selective; include a few of the best and summarize the sentiments of the rest in your brief with quotes if they are important.
   3. Very important are letters from students, colleagues, supervisors and administrators if they are substantive and speak to the subject of the nominee’s teaching (their experiences teaching with her/him, students reports of her/him etc.)
   4. Student petitions of the type hung up in laboratories for everyone to sign are, at best, support materials. They should be in the brief.
   5. The strongest evidence that the nominee is a good teacher is evidence that learning has, in fact, taken place under her/his tutelage.

   In summary, a strong nomination should provide evidence, from as many sources as possible, clearly indicating an excellent teaching record which deserves recognition by the entire University community. Supporting material would include a mix of letters from faculty colleagues, undergraduates, graduate students and alumni. Details or summaries of teaching evaluations may also be included but not raw data from these evaluations as it is not very helpful.

7. Teaching Awards Ceremony

   Recipients of a UGFA Teaching Award are guests of the UGFA at a wine & cheese award ceremony in the fall where they are presented with a citation to commemorate their achievement

8. Send nominations to: Teaching Awards Committee, Faculty Association Office, 5 Unviersity Ave. E.
9. The Teaching Awards Committee is composed of the Vice-President of the Association who shall act as Chair of the committee and three other appointed members
10. If there are any questions contact the Faculty Association Office at ext. 52126