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News Excellence award nominations begin
By Casey Greene Managing editor The Teaching Excellence Award is given each year to a professor for being inspirational, compelling or simply excellent. The Office of Academic Affairs is asking students to give their "opinion and nominate the faculty member who [they] feel has had a transformative effect on his or her students," says the award Web site. "This is the student’s award," said Dr. Mary Breckenridge, associate vice president for academic affairs. "We want to know who has inspired them." This year, the Office of Academic Affairs wanted to increase student response making it possible for students to submit nominations via the Internet. "We received more responses within the first 24 hours this year than we ever have in previous years," said Kelly Mattes, graduate assistant in the office of academic affairs. "We currently have tripled the number of responses from previous years." Nominating a professor is not about vote tallying. The nomination form includes a section that allows students to explain their vote. "Often applications are sent in with nothing but the nominee’s name," said Mattes. "Sometimes it just says ‘He or she is great’. A compelling narrative weighs more than a vote with no explanation." Breckenridge said she encourages students to include an explanation with their application. "The more concrete and explanatory the narrative the better," said Breckenridge. "The narrative validates the vote." While the Office of Academic Affairs monitors the award process, it is not responsible for selecting a winner. "Past recipients of the award choose the next winner," said Breckenridge. After nominations are collected from students, faculty and administrators, the selection committee meets to discuss the nominations, said Dr. Michael Federici, a professor in the political science department and 2004 winner of the Teaching Excellence Award. "This committee is comprised of previous winners and an administrator from Office of Academic Affairs," said Federici. "The committee places the most weight on student nominations but it also adds what is known by the faculty about the candidates." Dr. Phil Belfiore, a professor in the education department, is the 2005 Teaching Excellence Award winner and will be part of this year’s selection committee. "I am looking more closely at the student nominations and their rationale. I look for a combination of rigor, respect and commitment to learning between student nomination and faculty member nomination," he said. "For me, it is less about the quality of teaching as reflected by faculty nominations, and more about the quality of learning as reflected by the student nominations." Dr. Randall Clemons, professor and chair of the department of political science, will take part in the selection for the first time this year. "Certainly, the bottom line for me is about results, not method," said Clemons. "Teaching is ultimately about what students take away from their interactions with their professors in terms of knowledge, skills and the opportunity to consider their values." The award winner receives a Teaching Excellence Award certificate as well as a $1000 check. According to Breckenridge this award is about honoring professors who have positively affected students. "We would like students to participate," said Breckenridge. "I can still remember the professors who inspired me, made me think differently or changed my life direction. We want to honor those type of professors." A link to the online
nomination form is available on Lakernet. Students may also turn in a hard copy
to Old Main 104. |
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