The University of Georgia Award for Excellence in Teaching

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 of Georgia. It 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.

For a list of previous University of Georgia Award for Excellence in Teaching recipients, please click here.


2022-2023 Recipient

Nancee Reeves

Nancee Reeves
Senior Lecturer, 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/Criteria

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-tenureable teaching position at UGA for at least ten years.


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. The nomination cannot be a self-nomination.


Dossier

At the completion of the College/School selection process, the Dean will submit one copy of each nominee's dossier to the Office of Academic Affairs, a unit of the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. The nomination packet must include:

  • A written statement prepared by the Department Head and/or Dean addressing the nominee's teaching excellence
  • A teaching philosophy/statement written by the candidate
  • The nominee's condensed curriculum vitae (maximum of 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 what is recommended 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.

The dossier must not exceed twenty-five (25) pages in its total length (that is, including all materials, exclusive of the cover page) with 1” margins all around and a typeface no smaller than 11-point font size. Dossiers exceeding this length will not be considered. Pages, excluding the cover page, must be numbered. The nomination packets should be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs by Wednesday, October 25, 2023 as a single PDF file, via the School/College “course” site in eLC.

Cover Page Template 

Questions may be directed to Sherri Bennett in the Office of Academic Affairs at sherri@uga.edu


Selection Process

A committee composed of seven senior faculty members serving staggered, two-year terms (at least four of whom will be teaching faculty) and two undergraduate students will review the nominations. The members for the committee will be chosen by the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost from nominations solicited from the Deans. The committee’s recommendations shall be sent to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost for final approval.