Faculty Senate

Teaching Excellence Award Committee Operating Papers

Preamble

To recognize the central importance of teaching to the mission of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, with the assistance of the Faculty Senate, will offer the following awards annually:  one Teaching Excellence Award ($2000) and up to two Teaching Distinction Awards ($500) to tenure track faculty, one Teaching Distinction Award ($1500) to faculty in the status of clinical faculty, instructors, lecturers, or part-time faculty as defined by University policy. In addition, $250 will be awarded to each unit’s official nominee who is nominated for but doesn’t win any of the aforementioned awards. Nominations for the awards may be submitted by students and faculty, and are reviewed by the Teaching Excellence Awards Committee of nine faculty and three students. Those selected by the Committee as best qualified to receive awards are recommended to the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

I. Committee Guidelines and Procedures

a. The Teaching Excellence Awards recipients are selected by recommendation of the Teaching Excellence Awards Committee (TEAC) to the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. TEAC is a standing subcommittee of the Faculty Development Council and its chair reports to the chair of the Faculty Development Council.

b. The Provost's office provides funding for the awards, publicity, and related expenses. Informational copies of all committee correspondence are sent to the Provost.

II. TEAC Membership and Procedures

a. The TEAC consists of nine full-time faculty representatives on continuing appointment elected by the faculty of their respective school/college and three student representatives as selected in accordance with II.c below.

b. Terms of Office: Faculty members serve two-year terms and students serve one- year terms.

c. Election of Faculty Representatives: In the spring semester of each year, the TEA chair will send notices to the appropriate

Deans to fill vacancies for 2-year terms. The TEA chair should be notified of new representatives by September 15.

In even numbered years, the faculty of the Schools of Business, Engineering, Pharmacy, Dental Medicine and the College of Arts and Sciences each elect one faculty member for a two-year term.

In odd numbered years, the faculty of the Schools of Nursing, Education, the Library, and the College of Arts and Sciences each elect one faculty member for a two-year term.

In the fall semester of every year it will be requested that two Meridian scholars, and one student from the Student Senate be selected to be a member of the TEA committee. The three students should represent three different schools/colleges of the university.

d. Committee Chair: The Chair is a faculty member serving the second or subsequent year of his or her term. A Chair for the following academic year is nominated by agreement among the four faculty members whose terms continue into the following year. The Chair is then appointed by the Chair of the Faculty Development Council with the approval of the majority of the Council. This selection process shall be conducted by the Committee immediately after the award winners have been selected for that year.

Immediately following Honors Day during Spring Semester, the new Chair shall notify the appropriate school/college faculty to elect representatives for TEAC. Names of representatives must be submitted to the TEAC Chair by mid-October. The out-going Chair should prepare and submit an annual report of the year's activities to the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the Chair of the Faculty Development Council of the Faculty Senate by no later than September 1 of the following year.

e. Voting: Each member of TEAC, whether faculty or student, has one vote. Six members constitute a quorum, providing the committee is fully organized. In the event that the committee is not fully organized as specified in II.a, a quorum would be represented by one-half of the number of members plus one. The chair may vote and decisions are made by simple majority vote. Further voting procedures may be determined by TEAC.

III. Publicity

a. TEAC and the Faculty Development Council are responsible for making the SIUE community aware of the Teaching Excellence Awards.

b. In September, the TEAC chair should send an e-mail to the SIUE community explaining the award and deadline for application.

c. In the spring, the chair is responsible for providing winners' names to the Provost's office for inclusion in a press release to the Alestle and other local media outlets.

IV. Nominations of Candidates for Awards

a. TEAC solicits nominations for the awards from the faculty members and students of the school/college eligible for the awards. Under mechanisms established by the faculty of that unit, (which should include letters of support from students, faculty, constituencies, and student evaluations), the school/college may nominate one tenured/tenure-track faculty member each year with the exception of CAS which may nominate four faculty members. The school/college may also nominate one faculty member in the status of clinical faculty, instructor/lecturer, or part-time faculty for the Teaching Distinction Award. TEAC will request nominations from within the college/schools by the first week of November. Nominating procedures must be established by the faculty of each school/college and placed on file with the TEAC before nominations will be accepted.

Faculty members who are nominated for the Teaching Excellence Award must:

   1. Be a tenured/tenure track faculty

   2. Must be an Assistant, Associate or Full Professor

   3. Be on a full-time appointment

   4. Have a minimum of three years as full-time tenure-tenure track teaching experience at SIUE

Winners of the Teaching Excellence Award ($2000) are not eligible to receive the award for four years, and are not eligible for the Teaching Distinction Award ($500) for two years after receiving the $2000 award. Winners of the Teaching Distinction Award will be eligible for nomination for the Teaching Excellence Award after two years.

Clinical faculty, Instructors/Lecturers, and Part-Time Faculty are eligible for nomination for one $1500 Teaching Distinction Award and must meet the following criteria:

    1. Have a minimum of three years teaching experience at SIUE and have not received the award in the previous year teaching in an academic department.

V. Notification: The TEAC Chair

a. Notifies faculty members who have been nominated for any award.

b. Ascertains willingness of faculty to be nominated.

c. Requests permission from the nominated faculty member to obtain additional supporting information and material and for TEAC members to observe his or her teaching in the classroom.

d. Requests supporting information and material for the nominee's department Chair, if necessary.

e. Provides the Provost with information on the number and timing of nominations from each school.

VI. Supporting Information and Material

Each nominee is requested to provide the following information for the previous three semesters taught by the first week of December.  The materials must be submitted electronically as a PDF document.  Materials not following this format will not be accepted/considered.

1.  A Philosophy of Teaching (1 page maximum).

2.  Implementation and Outcomes of the Teaching Philosophy.  This could include:

     a. Evidence of how you have acted on teaching evaluations, i.e., how feedback has been incorporated.

     b. How your teaching philosophy is implemented in teaching and related activities. 

     c. Evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness and excellence of your teaching.

     d. Course syllabi for classes taught in the last 3 semesters.

     e. List of courses taught, number of students in each course, and an explanation of grade distribution for each course taught in last 3 semesters.

3.  Responsibilities and Accomplishments in Teaching.  Evidence could include summaries/lists of:

     a. Courses taught (existing and new) in past three years.

     b. Curriculum development (initiatives, leadership, contributions).

     c. Grants, directly related to the enhancement of teaching and student learning at SIUE.

     d. Student supervision / Working with students (if applicable in your school).  Could include independent studies, design projects, theses, graduate committees.

     e. Teaching awards or nominations.

4.  Evaluations

     a. Student Evaluations on teaching (compare with department and school wide average) with class size indicated for past three semesters.  Report in summarized form.

     b. Two letters of support from colleagues familiar with your teaching methods.

     c. Departmental Peer Evaluations (if applicable in your department).

     d. Student Supervision Evaluations (if applicable in your school).

5.  Professional Development.  This could include summaries/lists of:

     a. Attendance at workshops, seminars, directly related to the improvement of teaching at SIUE.

     b. Scholarly publications and presentations directly related to the teaching responsibilities at SIUE.

VII. Schedule and Selection

a. By the second week of Spring semester, the TEAC Chair makes available to TEAC members the information received from the nominees. Each member is responsible for carefully evaluating the material and, insofar, as possible, for visiting classes to observe teaching. Each member then prepares a ranking of candidates with a rationale.

b. By the eighth week of Spring Semester, TEAC meets to select nominees to be recommended to the Provost as award recipients. Deliberations are totally confidential except for the final result. Open discussion of the qualifications of nominees is expected to occur. After the selections have been made, TEAC prepares a short statement explaining why the particular candidates were selected.

c. Immediately upon conclusion of deliberations and prior to notification of nominees, the Chair will forward to the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs a list of the names of those recommended by the Committee.

d. The TEAC Chair

   1. Upon receipt of action taken by the Provost on committee recommendations, immediately notifies award recipients and reports their names to the Chair of the Faculty Development Council. The Chancellor nominates the recipient of the $2000 award to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for the National Professor of the Year Award.

   2. Makes arrangements for publicity with the Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

e. All candidates will be expected to attend Honor's Day to receive the monetary portion of the awards. The recipient of the $2000 award is also normally expected to attend Commencement to be recognized and to receive a plaque.

VIII. Records

a. The University Governance Office retains the nomination materials for six months under security. After this time, the materials will be destroyed. The TEAC Chair is responsible for placing a copy of all official letters, correspondence, and meeting minutes in a permanent file in the University Governance Office.

FDC#01-16/17 Approved by the Faculty Senate February 2, 2017
Approved by the Chancellor February 22, 2017

FDC#01-15/16 Approved by the Faculty Senate May 5, 2016
Approved by the Interim Chancellor June 24, 2016

FDC#03-13/14 Approved by the Faculty Senate May 1, 2014
Approved by the Chancellor June 2, 2014

WC#04-11/12 Approved by the Welfare Council February 16, 2012
Approved by the Faculty Senate May 3, 2012
Approved by the Chancellor June 14, 2012

Amended January 2006

Amended and approved September 1998

Approved by the Faculty Senate October 1997

Revised August 1997

Revised April 1997

Revised December 1996

Faculty Senate Action, August 1995

Revised April 1995