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Dean's Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching « College Awards « Faculty & Staff « College of Liberal Arts & Sciences « University of Illinois


Faculty & Staff


Dean's Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in fulfillment of its mission, is devoted to excellence in undergraduate teaching. The purpose of the award program is to reward and honor the college's best teachers. Supported by alumni and friends of the college, as many as four awards may be made annually. Departments are encouraged to submit one nomination.

Criteria

Nominations will be evaluated in terms of achievement according to the following established criteria:

  1. Consistent excellent performance (not just isolated instances of brilliance in the classroom)
  2. Impact on students
  3. Innovative approaches to teaching
  4. Other contributions to improved instruction, including influence on the curriculum

Award

An award of $1000 is placed in a discretionary account to support the recipient's teaching and research. In addition, an increment of $3500 will be added to the annual salary base of each recipient. Recipients also receive a commemorative plaque that is presented at the LAS Recognition of Teaching Excellence.

Eligibility

The eligibility requirements for this award and the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching are one and the same.

Further, a faculty member who receives a Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching will not be eligible for a second college award during the next five-year period, although such a person may be nominated again through this process for the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching during that five-year period, if she/he remains eligible for that award. Tenure-track probationary faculty members will be considered only in the most compelling cases where there is evidence of exceptional scholarship as well as teaching.

Nomination

The nomination for this award and the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching are one and the same. The criteria and procedures are included in the Provost's Guidelines on Awards for Excellence in Instruction, Advising, and Research. The LAS Awards Committee will review and rank the applications received. Applications which exceed the page limit of 10 pages (excluding cover sheet and four letters from students) and which include information outside of the time period of review will not be considered. Each faculty member selected as a winner of the Dean's Award will be nominated for the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching if eligible. In cases in which a faculty member is not eligible in a given year for a college award but is eligible for a campus award, the strongest nominations as determined by the Awards Committee will be forwarded.

An original and 10 (11 total) copies of the nomination must be forwarded, before 5 p.m. on the day of the deadline, to:

LAS AWARDS COMMITTEE
c/o Amy Lawrence Elli
294 Lincoln Hall, MC-448

The deadlines for submission to the department and to the college correspond to those for the campus awards:

Award Nomination Deadlines
Date Deadlines
Mid-November, 2008 Recommended deadline for nominations to departmental selection committee.
January 5, 2009 Deadline for nominations from departments to the college.
January 30, 2009 Deadline for college nominations to the campus.

Updated August 2008