The Lima campus Teaching Excellence Award recognizes the outstanding performance of a faculty member in delivering skills and knowledge to Ohio State University students. Students, faculty, and the administration present this honor annually at the campus convocation. A recognition of past excellence and encouragement of future innovation, this award is an honor equivalent to the campus research award.
Eligibility: Any member of the Ohio State Lima Faculty Assembly is eligible to receive this award with the exception of faculty who have received it within the past five years and faculty currently serving on the Selection Committee. (Article 1 of Constitution of the Lima Campus Faculty Assembly defines the terms of membership in the Assembly.)
Selection Committee: The Selection Committee consists of four voting members: the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees, the student President of Buckeye Scholars, the most recent recipient of this Teaching Award, and one member of the Teaching Effectiveness Committee. The other three officers of the Buckeye Scholars are alternates in the event that either of the student representatives is unable or unwilling to serve. If the most recent recipient if this award is a lecturer, the Teaching Effectiveness Committee will select one of its tenure-line faculty to serve on the Selection Committee; conversely, if the most recent recipient is tenure-line, the Teaching Effectiveness Committee will contribute a lecturer to the Selection Committee.
Nomination Process and Deadlines: During autumn semester the Selection Committee will elect a Chair and initiate the nomination process. Eligible faculty members can be nominated by any student enrolled in a course at Ohio State Lima in the past academic year (spring semester through the next spring semester, including summer) and by any faculty, not excluding self-nomination. The Selection Committee has the discretion to revise or replace the nomination forms and distribution methods used in previous years. Although eligible faculty are not to solicit nominations from students nor announce the award to students, the Selection Committee may decide to print a standard information and/or nomination form for instructors to distribute in all classes. In soliciting nominations, the Selection Committee will assume responsibility for educating the student body as effectively as possible about: 1) the selection criteria used for this award, 2) the extent and importance of student involvement in the selection process, 3) the differences between the campus and alumni teaching awards and the importance of nominating faculty for both awards. Calls for nominations are to be issued to students during the autumn semester and again during the spring semester. The deadline for all nominations will be approximately four weeks prior to the end-of-the-year Awards Celebration.
Selection Process and Criteria: Materials considered by the Selection Committee, not listed in order of importance, may include but are not limited to:
- Student testimony provided in the past year, including testimony provided in nomination forms or letters. While the quantity of nominations can be a relevant factor, the Selection Committee may wish to consider the content and quality of nominations.
- Student discursive course evaluation from the past years.
- SEI scores from the past three years, to the extent available (faculty may submit such data in the form of tables used for other review purposes).
- Peer evaluations, including classroom observation reports written in the past three years and testimony provided on nomination forms or letters. At its discretion and with the cooperation of nominees, the Selection Committee may initiate peer observations as part of the review process.
- Brief written statements from the nominees providing additional information about teaching activities. (Such statements can be the same as teaching statements used for various other reviews within the institution.) Statements might call attention to:
- The design of new courses.
- The expansion of the curriculum in ways particularly advantageous to the Lima campus and community.
- The introduction of innovative pedagogical techniques.
- Research and publication of pedagogy.
- Involvement in Independent Studies or in extracurricular education events (e.g., leading an effective Honors Book Seminar).
The Selection Committee will determine the relative weight of various types of evidence in the process of making a holistic judgment about teaching excellence. The committee will collect all materials (except for the nominations) directly from nominees, but will accept materials in whatever form they are presented to the administration for review purposes. If the number of nominees is significant, the Selection Committee, before collecting all of the materials from every nominee, may wish to narrow the field of finalists if a clear and fair basis for doing so can be found.
The Selection Committee will inform the Dean of the winner of the award at least two weeks prior to the annual awards ceremony. Identity of the winner is to remain confidential until the award is announced.