President’s Faculty Excellence Awards

The excellent teacher provides an academic experience in which students have the means and opportunity to acquire and master the skills, knowledge and attitudes appropriate to the curriculum. She/he develops and maintains an environment that fosters this learning experience, and provides quality advising and mentoring to students.

The excellent teacher lends extra time above and beyond normal office hours and extra effort to endeavors within the faculty, academic and operational functions of the institution, including actively supporting student engagement and activities.

The excellent teacher engages in the ongoing pursuit of some or all of the following activities: (i) initiate, maintain, or extend scholarly and professional expertise; (ii) remain current with new developments in his/her field; (iii) participate in those developments; (iv) engage students in research and guide them in their research activities; (v) participate in activities beyond the AIC community which employ the individual’s expertise, skills or knowledge in service to the larger community; and (vi) present the individual and AIC in a positive light.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate distinction in all of the three areas of excellence noted above. Examples of distinction could include, but are not limited to:

• Innovations in teaching
• Experiential learning initiatives
• Effectively engage in and incorporate scholarship into the classroom
• Bringing regional or national recognition to the College
• Showcasing aesthetic expression at AIC (through performance, direction, or exhibition)
• Exemplary service to the College, its students, the larger community, and/or the discipline
• Student Engagement

Download and fill out the President’s Faculty Excellence Award Form, and provide the following items.

• Three letters of support (not to exceed two pages, 12 pt. font):
  • Nominating letter by a faculty colleague or administrator, a student, or an alumnus/a
  • A single support letter from faculty colleague, administrator, a student, an alumnus/a, or external colleague
  • Support letter by the nominee’s dean , who will also supply the nominee’s curriculum vitae (if the nominating letter is from the nominee’s dean , another support letter will be required)
• The strongest support letters will address all roles the faculty member is typically expected to perform, including excellence in teaching, institutional participation, and professional development/scholarly activities/community engagement, as well as examples of distinctions in these areas.

The nomination is limited to the materials listed; no additional materials will be considered.

Any former nominators of candidates for an excellence award from a previous year may resubmit the application, but must be sure to update materials and follow the guidelines in this document. Award recipients from the previous three years are not eligible for a nomination in this cycle.

Nominations will be reviewed by the President’s Faculty Awards Committee. Reviewers are ineligible for these awards and may neither nominate nor write in support of a candidate. If a faculty awards committee member is nominated, he/she must recuse himself/herself from the process for that year. The awardees will be recognized at the annual campus reception held in May and at Commencement.

The nomination form along with supporting materials must be submitted as a complete electronic package to Chair, President’s Faculty Excellence Award Committee, by Monday, April 3, 2017. The material can be e-mailed to excellenceawards@aic.edu.