2025-2026 Procedures for Selecting Recipients of the Purdue University Exceptional Early Career Teaching Award

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 Exceptional Early Career Teaching Award is to honor faculty members for outstanding undergraduate teaching on the West Lafayette campus.

Due: December 1, 2025

A. Procedures for Making Nominations

Nominations will be made by the respective academic units for forwarding to the Selection Committee by December 1, 2025. 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 2023).
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 2025 or fall 2025).
4. A nomination not to exceed six pages (8½ x 11), excluding the required cover page (see last page) and appendices, 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.
   Additional materials beyond six pages will be removed and not considered.
5. Recipients of the College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award in Exceptional Early Career Teaching may not be nominated for it again.
6. Each academic unit 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 Kathy Heath at heathk@purdue.edu by 5:00 p.m., December 1, 2025.

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.
2. Nomination Narrative
   
   Nominees are encouraged to provide a narrative, or their story of pursuing teaching excellence, with sufficient depth so that members of the selection committee may make an informed judgment. The nominee is encouraged to develop the narrative that best highlights their teaching excellence based on the areas listed below. Please provide sufficient evidence so that members of the selection committee, many of whom will not be personally acquainted with the nominee's abilities, can make an informed selection. See The Guide for Developing and Documenting Teaching Excellence for guidance and specific examples to be considered as a part of the narrative. Multiple examples may be provided as long as the narration stays within the 6-page limit. Not all five areas listed need to be addressed, just the ones that are appropriate for the nominee's narrative. There are student representatives from each academic unit who advocate on behalf of nominees.
3. Appendix 1 (List of undergraduate courses and evaluations, required as part of the nomination) and Appendix 2 (List of engagement programs, optional)
   
   Create appendices using the provided templates. These documents contribute to teaching impact section, however, they are not counted as part of your six page limit.
   
   Nominee's effectiveness to be judged on the following criteria:
   1. Teaching Innovation and Teaching/Community Impact
      The Framework for Teaching Excellence defines Experimenters as instructors who proactively incorporate innovative instructional strategies. Use this section to highlight your efforts as an Experimenter. The three pieces below may be combined, as the solution to a curricular problem may have been to create a new course or innovation.
      • Description of an instructional or curricular problem(s) that the nominee solved and how the body of knowledge on teaching and learning was used as a vehicle for solving the problem. This might include how the problem was identified, what process/method the nominee took to address the problem, and the evaluation of its impact.
      • Description of a demonstrated record of course creation or innovation, engagement program creation or innovation, and/or curricular innovation. Examples may include the attainment/implementation of a teaching innovation grant, successful integration of multimedia instruction and technology to enhance student learning, etc. Interdisciplinary efforts and integration of real-world application of course content are strongly encouraged.
      • Description of evidence highlighting teaching excellence (e.g., list of teaching or mentorship honors and awards, including name, sponsor, year received, and source/level of award; quantitative data, comments, or statements of support, from students and alumni regarding the impact of courses/teaching; statement(s) of support regarding impact)
      • Courses taught and evaluations in the last three years (Appendix 1: see template; does not count toward six page limit)
      • Engagement programs in the last three years (Appendix 2, see template; does not count toward six page limit)
   2. Mentorship of Undergraduate Students
      The Framework for Teaching Excellence defines the Exemplar, Enthusiast, and Educator elements as foundational elements to teaching excellence. Use this section to highlight your efforts as an Exemplar, Enthusiast, and Educator.
      • Evidence of mentoring learners in a wide variety of contexts (e.g., undergraduate research/teaching outside of normal classroom activity; mentor/academic advisor outside of normal classroom activity; meaningful, sustained extracurricular/co-curricular advising; teaching an Honors section or offering an Honors contract; service-learning mentorship; developing and leading a study abroad; advising a student organization; service at university events & activities for students).
   3. Service and Professional Development Related to Undergraduate Education
      The Framework for Teaching Excellence defines the Exemplar, Enthusiast, and Educator elements as foundational elements to teaching excellence. Use this section to highlight your efforts as an Exemplar, Enthusiast, and Educator.
      • Evidence of participation in department, school/college or university committees related to undergraduate education.
      • Evidence of participation in national or international committees or initiatives related to undergraduate education.
      • Evidence of professional development activities related to improving teaching and learning inside and/or outside of the university (e.g., development, implementation and/or provision of programs on teaching/learning; mentorship of junior faculty, graduate students, or post-doctoral trainees on teaching and learning; participation in teaching and learning development programs/activities, etc.)
   4. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
      The Framework for Teaching Excellence defines Explorers as those who contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning, freely sharing their experiences and serving as role models for other academics. Use this section to highlight your efforts as an Explorer.
      • Demonstrated record of contributing to the body of knowledge on teaching and learning. Examples might include leadership in institutional change related to teaching and learning, education-related scholarly publications such as academic articles, textbooks, books on pedagogy, invited presentations, and poster sessions.
   5. Self-Selected Description or Evidence of Teaching Excellence
      The nominee can provide any additional description and/or evidence supporting their nomination that has not already been covered in the narrative.

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

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 Kathy Heath at heathk@purdue.edu by November 21, 2025.
4. The Committee shall make its selection, based upon the briefs presented to them, at a meeting in January.