On November 26, 2001 Interim Provost Arthur MacEwan, announced three important awards: the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service, and the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship. Colleagues, students, and graduates all have the chance to nominate UMass faculty. Those eligible for the awards include all senior tenured faculty members, full-time or part-time, even those who have been previously nominated. In addition to recognition, each award also entails a $4,000 stipend. The awards will be announced at commencement on June 4, 2002.
In order to nominate a faculty member for any one of these awards, Departmental Personnel Committees (DPC) receive nominations from faculty, staff, and students. Then the DPC selects and forwards the names of nominees, with all the documentation supporting the nominee’s eligibility to the Department Chair. Because of the time involved in gathering nomination materials and other documents, the departments are encouraged to select the most promising nominees for these awards. Department chairs then forward the nominations to the dean, who forwards those nominations to the respective award committees. Both the department chair and the dean can choose to add comments to the nominations if they wish to do so.
The Distinguished Teaching Award will be awarded based on a faculty member’s teaching experience during their time at UMass Boston. It will be awarded to a faculty member who demonstrates enthusiasm for teaching, uses effective teaching skills, and his/her own intellectual strengths to enhance their courses. In support of a nomination for this award one may include documents such as student evaluations, testimonial letters, peer evaluations, and portfolio materials. Nomination materials for this award should provide evidence of the faculty member’s exceptional effort and time spent improving learning and teaching at the university. Nominations must include a statement delineating specific examples of service to the university community as described above; three recommendation letters from colleagues in the professor’s department; student or graduate responses; summaries of teaching evaluations for his/her last five years at UMB; sample syllabi from courses taught here; and a statement about how the candidate’s approach to teaching contributes to the university. Nomination materials for this award should be submitted to the Distinguished Teaching Award Committee, courtesy of the Provost’s Office by March 29, 2002.
The Distinguished Service Award will be awarded to a faculty member with an extraordinary record of service during their time at UMB. Nominations submitted for this award should provide details about the type(s) of service the faculty member has been a part of and how that service has impacted the university community. Just as with the above award, a nominating statement, a statement from the candidate, at least three letters of support from colleagues or others who know the candidate’s service record and peer evaluations should accompany the nomination. Other documents one could include are peer evaluations, portfolio information, and testimonial letters. Submissions for this award should be received by the Distinguished Service Award Committee, courtesy of the Provost’s Office, by March 29, 2002.
The Distinguished Scholarship Award will be awarded based on the scholarly work presented to the public by a faculty member during their association with UMass Boston. The Provost’s Office acknowledges that with this award it is particularly difficult to compare scholarly work on such varied subjects as those offered by our College of Arts and Sciences, for this reason the materials they request for nominations for this award are slightly different than the materials requested for the other awards. Detailed nomination statements and reviews are crucial. Also, peer evaluations of the nominee’s scholarly works are important to the selection for this award. Unlike the previous two awards, the selection between nominees for this scholarship award rely more heavily on traditional forms of recognition rather than testimonial letters and personal reflections. Documentation for this award should include a nominating statement, three letters from departmental or professional colleagues, two copies of the scholarly work for whicvh the faculty member is being nominated and other supporting materials such as reviews or peer evaluations. Again, materials must be received by the Distinguished Scholarship Award Committee, courtesy of the Provost’s Office, by March 29, 2002.
These awards offer a chance for the university to acknowledge achievements both within the context of the university setting and outside of UMB. Those with questions regarding the process or the qualifications for nominations contact Associate Provost Winston Langley at the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost at 617-287-5600.