University-Wide Teaching Awards

Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards

Nominations due February 25. In November 2008, the Board of Regents introduced the Regents’ Outstanding Teachers Awards for the nine academic institutions. The awards are a symbol of the importance they place on the provision of undergraduate teaching and learning of the highest order, in recognition of those who serve our students in an exemplary manner and as an incentive for others who aspire to such service. These teaching awards will complement existing ways in which faculty excellence is recognized and incentivized.

The Regents have allocated $1 million per annum for five years, beginning FY 2009, for these teaching awards to be available to faculty at UT Austin. The awards will involve one-time payments to individual faculty. It is intended that no fewer than 30 total awards will be made each year. The intended award breakdown is as follows:

• Tenured faculty: 20 awards of $30,000 each;
• Tenure-track faculty: nine awards of $25,000 each; and
• Non-tenure track faculty: nine awards of $15,000 each.

Nomination process. The process of selecting candidates will be a rigorous campus-based process, relying heavily on student and peer faculty evaluations within academic departments and progress through various stages of evaluation up through the university, resulting in a recommendation from the campus president. No more than 76 candidates may be recommended per year.

Criteria. Award nominees must have clearly demonstrated their commitment to teaching, and a sustained capability to deliver excellence to the undergraduate learning experience, through all of the following principal criteria:

• Sustained high performance in student end-of-course evaluations for more than one undergraduate degree course, at any undergraduate level; evidence to include high evaluation scores and trends, absence of grade inflation patterns, and positive written comments.
• Peer review evaluation of curriculum quality, classroom expertise, and demonstrated focus on learning outcomes and assessment of those outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to link faculty scholarship with innovative course development, content, and intellectual challenges that together will inspire students’ curiosity and creativity, and promote student engagement in the learning process.
• Additional extraordinary commitment to teaching can be demonstrated in a variety of ways including mentoring students, service learning, engagement, advising, being available to students, and undergraduate thesis advising.

The selection committee will also consider the following attributes:

• Sustained quality of teaching from more than one annual evaluation at the departmental level.
• Evidence of continuous improvement and innovation in the preparation of course materials.
• Commitment to high quality undergraduate education from participation in, and experience from, teacher training and/or academic teaching conferences.
• Appropriate use of technology in the classroom (integrated into the curriculum).
• Evidence of teaching awards already gained at department, college or university levels or elsewhere (professional discipline associations).
• Evidence of discipline-related interaction with students beyond the classroom, such as sponsorship of student organizations, sponsorship of scholastic fraternities, field experiences, and undergraduate research.

Selection process. Deans should consult with department chairs and faculty and with student council and/or other representative student groups in their college as part of the process. A college-wide teaching award committee should evaluate nominations from units. Within each category of award (tenured, tenure-track, non-tenure track) the dean should rank order the nominees and explain the ranking in a cover letter.

A university-wide committee, convened by the Provost will evaluate the nominations from Schools and Colleges. This committee will forward their recommendations to the Provost and President, who, in turn will forward to The Office of Academic Affairs at UT System. OAA will administer the program on behalf of the UT System Board of Regents. The awards will be determined by a selection committee appointed by the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Nomination contents. The nomination packet should include:

• A teaching portfolio prepared by each candidate, with the following included:
• Examples of course materials;
• Examples of assessments used to ascertain student attainment of learning outcomes;
• Examples of student engagement in learning (such as active learning strategies, field experiences, service learning, learning communities, and/or undergraduate research);
• Continuous improvement of course materials;
• Student feedback;
• Scholarship links to pedagogy;
• Teacher training experience; and
• A statement of teaching philosophy, objectives, and commitment
• Record of student evaluations for a minimum of two years
• Letter(s) of support from students (limit 3)
• Letter (s) of support from peer faculty (limit 3)
• Letter of support from chair of department
• Letter of support from dean of the college
• Syllabus of recent favorite course
• Curriculum vitae

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