Joe and Bettie Branson Ward Endowed Excellence Award

About the Award

Granted once every three years by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, this award recognizes the belief that education involves positive change and is the aggregate of all processes by means of which a person, or groups of people, develop abilities, attitudes and other forms of behavior of positive value to the society in which they participate.

Deadline

To be determined.

Purpose

For research, teaching, or demonstration activities that contribute to changes of positive value to society

Number of Nominations

No limit

Nominee Qualifications

This award is made every three years (next award to be given 2025). All areas of intellectual activities are within the scope of the award and any administrative unit of The University of Texas at Austin may submit as many faculty nominations as it chooses. Nominees must be current faculty members at The University of Texas at Austin.

Eligible nominees must be in good standing with the university.

Nomination Materials Required

Nomination packets should be saved and submitted using the following format: “Faculty First & Last Name, College/School, year.pdf”. Nomination packets for institutional awards will be limited to 10 pages total (not including the cover page detailed in Section A) for each award and should include the following sections:

Section A: A cover page and evidence of minimal eligibility requirements met (1 page)

• Nominee’s name, job title, and EID
• Department and College/School
• Contact Information
• Evidence of minimal eligibility requirements met.
• Permission for the award packet to be published on UT Austin award website.

Section B: Candidate response to award-specific questions (2 pages)

• In response to each of the relevant questions below, candidates must include insights and examples of how they have addressed issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion through their work and engagement on campus (For example, in their discipline, course content, administrative and/or committee work).
• Award-specific questions include:
  • How does your pedagogical approach develop student abilities, attitudes, and behaviors in service of positive societal contribution? Examples and supporting evidence can include research, teaching, and/or demonstration activities.

Section C: Supporting Materials (up to 8 pages)

• Materials included must demonstrate with data and supporting evidence the faculty’s effectiveness in terms of student learning/development. In this section applicants are welcome to include:
  • Course Instructor Surveys (up to 3 pages)
    • Candidates will include in the template chart relevant information from the three most recent years.
    • Candidates may include up to two pages of representative student comments from courses in the two most recent years.
  • Brief/condensed CV that include the following sections (up to 2 pages):
    • Teaching-related service and research
    • Advising
    • Teaching awards/honors
  • Two letters of support (up to 3 pages)
    • Letters may be written by any of the following faculty colleagues (no more than one colleague external to UT), department chair, dean, university administrator or student (no more than one student letter).
  • Optional: Candidates may include up to 10 minutes of multimedia, digital, and other forms of content

See the Faculty Awards FAQ page for more information.

Award Amount

A cash honorarium of $6,000* is awarded.

*Amount of honorarium varies depending on endowment income