The University of Georgia Award for Excellence in Teaching, established in 2021 based on a recommendation from the UGA Teaching Academy, recognizes excellence in instruction by teaching faculty at the university. The award communicates the University of Georgia’s commitment to its teaching mission and recognizes the corps of teaching faculty whose time is primarily dedicated to offering outstanding instruction to our students, promoting pedagogical innovation and providing an engaging environment for student learning.
2023-2024 Recipients
Dainess Maganda
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Montgomery Wolf
Principal Lecturer in the Department of History, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
The Award
Each year, one to two full-time faculty members in a non-tenurable position will be selected to receive a $7,500 cash award.
Eligibility
All teaching faculty with at least 75% of their time assigned to teaching are eligible to be nominated for the University of Georgia Award for Excellence in Teaching. Since this award is designed to recognize sustained, high-quality contributions to the teaching mission of the University of Georgia, nominations will be limited to individuals who have held a full-time, non-tenurable teaching position at UGA for at least 10 years.
Selection Committee
A committee composed of seven faculty members (serving two-year staggered terms) and two undergraduate students will review the nominations and send its recommendations to the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. The committee members will be chosen by the provost from nominations solicited from the deans.
Process
Every school or college may nominate one candidate each year, with the exceptions of the Terry College of Business, which may nominate two candidates, and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, which may nominate three candidates.
Faculty who have won the University of Georgia Award for Excellence in Teaching are not eligible for renomination.
The mechanism by which nominees are selected within colleges and schools will be determined by the respective deans, but the process must include a review by a designated faculty committee that includes teaching faculty. In addition, any department wishing to make a nomination for consideration by the college or school should have its own internally designated committee to advise the department head in selection of the faculty member to be nominated. Self-nominations are not allowed.
At the completion of the college/school selection process, the dean will submit one copy of each nominee’s dossier to the Office of the Provost. The nomination packet must not exceed 25 pages in its total length with one-inch margins and 12-point typeface. Nomination packets exceeding this length will not be considered. All pages, including the cover page, must be numbered. A nomination should include the following in a single PDF file:
- Template Cover Page
- A written statement prepared by the department head and/or dean addressing the nominee’s teaching excellence (maximum 5 pages)
- A teaching philosophy / statement written by the candidate (maximum 3 pages)
- The nominee’s condensed curriculum vitae (maximum 5 pages)
- Supporting documentation, including, for example, a summary of student classroom evaluations, supporting letters from colleagues and students, and other pertinent evidence such as information about curriculum development, any pertinent Scholarship of Teaching and Learning or other teaching-related work, and professional development activities.
Consideration for this award is not based on student teaching evaluations alone. In addition to the recommendations above, the dossier may include peer evaluations, service to the professional community and a portfolio created by the candidate that highlights their teaching experience. The selection committee desires to see evidence of the candidate engaging in activities that encourage growth in becoming a better teacher and that motivate collaboration to learn new and innovative pedagogy for promoting learning for all students.
Submission of Nominations
Dean’s offices should submit nomination packets as single PDFs (one PDF per nominee) via the school / college “course” site in eLC. The deadline is Friday, December 13, 2024.
Questions regarding the University of Georgia Award for Excellence in Teaching should be directed to:
Sherri Bennett
Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
[email protected]
(706) 542-0383
