Regents Distinguished Teaching Award

Award Philosophy

To be eligible to receive an award, a full-time member of the faculty must have evidenced unusually significant and meritorious achievement in the instruction of students (graduate and/or undergraduate) for a significant period of years. Such achievement should be evidenced by:

Unusual effort devoted to ensuring the quality of the students' classroom learning experience.
Possession of high scholarly standards for both the rigor and currency of course content and for the level of student performance with respect to these standards.
Available measures of the faculty member's direct impact upon and involvement with students.
Service as a mentor and role model to other faculty.
Quality of relevant information and/or nominations submitted by current and former students, including any teacher evaluation forms.

Number of Awards

1 annual award per college (Arts and Sciences will have 2) @ $2,000 each plus appropriate fringe benefits.

Source of Funds

State appropriated funds, provided by the General University through the Office of Academic Affairs, covering the permanent increase in salary/benefits for successful nominees, will be allocated to the respective colleges during the budget development cycle.
Plaques paid from Foundation account or auxiliary enterprises funds.
This program could be made available at branch campuses or other budget agencies, with funds provided by the respective campuses/agencies.

Criteria

Must be nominated by a student and dean.
Full-time faculty member at OSU for four or more years (must have completed 4th year).
Hold rank as a tenure track Assistant Professor or above.
Devote a significant amount of assigned duties to teaching for the past four years.
An individual can receive this award no more than twice during his/her tenure at OSU.

Support Materials Would Include

Letter of nomination from the dean and a student.
Vitae of nominee.
Nominee's statement on philosophy of teaching (limited to 2 pages).
Listing of courses taught and number of students in the last four years.

Copy of course syllabi, summary of mandated course evaluations for past three years, summary of grading practice.

Supporting letters from:

Department head (1)
Faculty members (no more than 2)
Students and alumni (no more than 4)

Other materials as appropriate:

Evidence used by faculty to gather feedback on teaching effectiveness.

Submission of the Application

The completed application must fit in a one inch three-ring spiral binder. The application, organized with tab dividers, should be arranged as follows:

Letters of nomination (dean and a student).
Vitae of nominee.
Nominee’s statement of teaching philosophy (limited to two pages).
Chronological list of courses taught and number of students in each class in the last four years.
Copy of course syllabi for each course taught; summary of mandated course evaluations for the past three years; summary of grading practices.
Supporting letters from:Appendix: other materials as appropriate to demonstrate teaching effectiveness. (Remember that everything must fit in the one-inch binder.)

Department head – one
Faculty members – no more than two
Students and alumni – no more than four

Award Process

Deans and department heads will be notified of the availability of this award.
Colleges will develop a process whereby nominations are accepted and support materials are reviewed internally. The top three nominations for each college award will then be forwarded to Academic Affairs, with a letter of support from the dean, for consideration by the university-wide selection committee (composition noted below).
Support materials for the deans' nominees will be due in the Office of Academic Affairs around the first week of March.
Review and Selection Committee members will review support materials to identify winners. (It might be necessary to schedule interviews with the finalists prior to the selection of winners.)
College award winners will be notified of the award and a permanent salary increment of $2,000 annually plus fringe benefits.
Winners will be announced in September when salary adjustments are recommended to the OSU/A&M Board of Regents. Honorees will also be recognized at the fall University Awards Convocation at which time they will receive public recognition of awards and appropriately inscribed plaques.

Review & Selection Committee

One undergraduate student appointed by the President of the Student Government Association.
One graduate student appointed by the President of the Graduate Student Association.
Two faculty members at large appointed by the Chair of the Faculty Council.
Two department heads appointed by the Office of Academic Affairs.
The Provost & Senior Vice President or designate will Chair.

Approved by the OSU Board of Regents May 22, 1992
Minor Modifications made June 1998