College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award in Exceptional Early Career Teaching

Cover Sheet (DOCX)

Purpose of the Awards

Outstanding undergraduate teachers demonstrate superior ability in communicating the chosen material to the students and stimulate their desire to master the material. Outstanding teachers also recognize that their teaching responsibility to students does not stop at the classroom door, and therefore, will be ready to aid and motivate students in a counseling and advisory capacity, either formally or informally. The purpose of the College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award in Exceptional Early Career Teaching is to honor faculty members for outstanding undergraduate teaching in Engineering.

Due: December 20, 2023

A. Procedures for Making Nominations

Nominations will be made by the respective academic units for forwarding to the Selection Committee by December 20, 2023. The method of selecting the nominees shall be determined by the respective academic units, subject only to the following restrictions:

  1. The College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award in Exceptional Early Career Teaching recognizes exceptional undergraduate faculty members with the rank of assistant professor, including assistant professor of engineering practice. Nominees must have been appointed no less than two years prior to nomination (on or before August 2021).
  2. Each academic unit’s procedure must make some explicit provisions for securing representative student judgment in their unit concerning appropriate nominations.
  3. The nominee must have had some primary classroom responsibility for a course of undergraduate instruction during one of the immediately preceding two regular semesters of nomination, excluding the summer session (spring 2023 or fall 2023).
  4. A nomination not to exceed six pages (8½ x 11), excluding the required cover page (see last page), must be prepared for each nominee. All nominations must have at least one inch margins, use a Times New Roman font, and have a font size of not less than 12 pt. It is recommended that the nomination consist of a written brief addressing the criteria for the award followed by additional pages of supporting materials (evaluations, statement of teaching philosophy, student statements, etc.). However, at the discretion of the nominator, a blending of the brief and the supporting materials may be used as long as the document does not exceed six pages. Additional materials beyond six pages will be removed and not considered.
    • Nominations must include a list of all undergraduate classes and corresponding course evaluations for at least the past two academic years.
  5. Recipients of the College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award in Exceptional Early Career Teaching may not be nominated for it again.
  6. Each of the academic units may submit one nominee for the College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award in Exceptional Early Career Teaching each year.
  7. Nominations should be emailed to Marsha Freeland, mjfreeland@purdue.edu, by 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 20, 2023.

B. Structure of Brief

  1. Cover page (does not count toward 6-page limit) including: Name of award, name of nominee, nominee’s position and a description of the role it entails, department, date of initial appointment to the faculty, name of college/school submitting nomination and statement of the procedure used in choosing the nominee. There must be a separate paragraph summarizing the teaching evaluation process for nominee’s school or division.
  2. List of undergraduate courses taught (number and title) with dates and number of students enrolled in courses; e.g., HDFS 318, Developmental Assessment - second semester, 2018-19, 30 students enrolled.
  3. Nominee's effectiveness to be judged on the following criteria:
    1. Instructional effectiveness
    2. Course improvement or innovation. Why was a particular course modification or innovation impactful? What is the goal of a course and how do you know you achieved that goal?
    3. Contact with students outside the classroom (e.g. academic advising, advising a student organization, etc.)
    4. Service as a research mentor for undergraduate students outside of normal classroom activity, including committee service. (The lack of such work does not automatically eliminate a nominee for consideration, however, nominees with this kind of engagement will rate higher on this criterion than those without it.)
    5. Dissemination of teaching effectiveness, which may include the scholarship of teaching and learning. This could be through presentations, workshops, peer-reviewed publications, etc.
    Give sufficient evidence on each of the above points so that members of the selection committee, many of whom will not be personally acquainted with the candidate's abilities, may make an informed judgment. Academic units are encouraged to include information related to instructor effectiveness. This may include information related to course and instructor evaluations. However, there are student representatives from each academic unit who advocate on behalf of candidates.
  4. Nominee’s professional activities directly related to undergraduate education.
  5. Teaching honors and awards received by nominee.

C. The Faculty Awards Committee shall make the final selection of the recipient of an award from the nominations submitted to them.

  1. The Committee shall be chaired by the Dean of the College of Engineering or their designee.
  2. The Committee shall be made up of one faculty member elected or appointed to serve on the Faculty Awards Committee and one student from each of the academic units of Engineering.
  3. The name of the student representative chosen to serve on the selection committee should be forwarded by each academic unit to Marsha Freeland by December 20, 2023.
  4. The Committee shall make its selection, based upon the briefs presented to them, at a meeting on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 9:30 – 12:00, ARMS 3041.

D. Presentation of Awards

The Engineering Faculty Excellence Award in Exceptional Early Career Teaching recipient will receive a plaque and a $4,000 award.

The top recipient will be forwarded as the college's nominee for the university's Exceptional Early Career Teaching Award.