The UT System’s vision as an “institution of the first class” includes a commitment to continuous improvement in the quality of the education its faculty provides to its students. Various programs exist at the institutional and System level that recognize teaching excellence, but few focus exclusively on undergraduate education. The Board of Regents places the highest priority on undergraduate teaching at System universities. The regents wish to encourage teaching excellence by recognizing faculty that deliver the highest quality of undergraduate instruction through a demonstrated commitment to teaching and a promising future of sustained excellence in all aspects of instruction.
In November 2008, the Board of Regents introduced the Regents’ Outstanding Teachers Awards for the nine academic institutions. The awards are a symbol of the importance placed on the provision of teaching and learning of the highest order. The awards are offered in recognition of those who serve our students in an exemplary manner and as an incentive for others who aspire to such service. These teaching awards will complement existing ways in which faculty excellence is recognized and rewarded.
Of the $10 million set aside for this awards program, the Regents have allocated $1 million per year for five years for UT Austin faculty. The remaining $5 million will be available to faculty at UT Arlington, UT Brownsville, UT Dallas, UT El Paso, UT Pan American, UT Permian Basin, UT San Antonio, and UT Tyler through annual $1 million allocations over a five year period.
The Awards Process
It is intended that no fewer than 60 total awards will be made each year -- 30 to UT Austin faculty and 30 to faculty members at the remaining academic institutions. The awards will involve one-time payments to individual faculty. Within the two groups, awards ranging from 20 awards of $30,000 for tenured faculty, nine awards of $25,000 for tenure-track faculty upon receiving tenure, and nine awards of $15,000 for contingent faculty (including adjuncts, lecturers, and instructional assistants) will be offered.
The Nominations Process
UT Austin
Candidate selection will be a rigorous campus-based process, relying heavily on student and peer faculty evaluations within academic departments followed by various stages of evaluation at the department and college levels. Recommendation from the campus president is required for all candidates. No more than 76 candidates may be recommended per year.
UT Arlington, UT Brownsville, UT Dallas, UT El Paso, UT Pan American, UT Permian Basin, UT San Antonio, and UT Tyler
The process of selecting candidates will be a rigorous campus-based process, relying heavily on student and peer faculty evaluations within academic departments and progress through various stages of evaluation up through the university, resulting in a recommendation from the campus president. Based on the percentage of faculty at each institution, each campus president may nominate no more than the following number of faculty in each classification:
|
Tenured |
Tenure-Track |
Contingent |
UT Arlington |
8 |
3 |
4 |
UT Brownsville |
3 |
2 |
2 |
UT Dallas |
6 |
2 |
2 |
UT El Paso |
6 |
3 |
3 |
UT Pan American |
5 |
3 |
2 |
UT Permian Basin |
1 |
1 |
1 |
UT San Antonio |
8 |
3 |
3 |
UT Tyler |
2 |
1 |
1 |
Timeline
The Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) will administer the program on behalf of the UT System Board of Regents. All recommendations shall be directed to the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and submitted by the last Friday in March of each year. OAA staff will review all recommendations and will forward those candidates meeting the criteria specified below to the selection committee for consideration.
Actual awards will be made on the strength of individual faculty, not proportionally by campus. The evaluation of candidates will occur in April, with awards announced at the May Board of Regents’ meeting.
Criteria
Award nominees must have clearly demonstrated their commitment to teaching, and a sustained capability to deliver excellence to the undergraduate learning experience, through all of the following principal criteria:
- Sustained high performance in student exit (end-of-course) evaluations for more than one undergraduate degree course, at any undergraduate level; evidence to include high evaluation scores and trends, absence of grade inflation patterns, and positive written comments.
- Peer review evaluation of curriculum quality, classroom expertise, and demonstrated focus on learning outcomes and assessment of those outcomes.
- Demonstrated ability to link faculty scholarship with innovative course development, content, and intellectual challenges that together will inspire students’ curiosity and creativity, and promote student engagement in the learning process.
- Additional extraordinary commitment to teaching can be demonstrated in a variety of ways including mentoring students, service learning, engagement, advising, , and undergraduate thesis advising.
The selection committee will also consider the following attributes:
- Sustained quality of teaching from more than one annual evaluation at the departmental level.
- Evidence of continuous improvement and innovation in the preparation of course materials.
- Commitment to high quality undergraduate education from participation in, and experience from, teacher training and/or academic teaching conferences.
- Appropriate use of technology in the classroom (integrated into the curriculum).
- Evidence of teaching awards already gained at department, college or university levels or elsewhere (professional discipline associations).
- Evidence of discipline-related interaction with students beyond the classroom, such as sponsorship of student organizations, sponsorship of scholastic fraternities, field experiences, and undergraduate research.
Pedro Reyes, Ph.D. is coordinating this program.
