About the Awards

Each year, the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Awards recognize great teaching of undergraduates in the core curriculum. These recipients are UT Austin’s educational innovators whose commitment and performance not only instruct, but inspire. These awards are made possible by contributions from friends of the university who are committed to the quality of our educational programs – a group of people known as the President’s Associates.

Deadline

Nominations are now closed for the President’s Associates Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award.

Number of Nominations

Colleges or schools may submit up to 4 nominations.

Nominee Qualifications

The President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award recognizes excellence in undergraduate education in the core curriculum (including the signature courses). Well-qualified candidates will also have a demonstrated record of engagement with curriculum reform and educational innovation.

In additional to the required nomination materials listed below, each nominee submitted to the Provost’s office, must specifically state which signature or core course they are being nominated for and a link to the webpage that lists this course as a signature or core curriculum course. This should be included on the first page of the nomination package for each candidate.

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 (for the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award, this means specifically stating which signature or core course the nominee is being nominated for and a link to the webpage/resource that lists this course as a signature or core curriculum course).
• Permission for the award packet to be published on UT Austin award website should the nominee be selected for the award.

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

• In response to the questions below, candidates must include insights and examples of how they have had broader impacts on the campus and their communities (For example, in their discipline, course content, administrative and/or committee work).
• Award-specific questions include:
  • How have you evolved your pedagogical approach to increase student engagement in core curriculum courses (including signature courses)? How have you defined success in this endeavor? Please include supporting evidence or examples.
  • What evidence or examples do you have of your contribution to innovation in core curriculum (including signature courses) across campus?

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 includes 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.

Award Amount

Recipients will each receive an honorarium of $5,000* via payroll.

*Amount of honorarium varies depending on endowment income