Awards and Recognition

Nomination packets must include each of the following four items:

A letter of nomination (three pages maximum) that provides a descriptive overview of how the nominee has improved the University or the wider community through their teaching, scholarly activity, and service.

Examples in each of the three may include, where applicable

Teaching

A cover sheet identifying the nominee’s name, departmental affiliation, and number of years at Butler. Please also indicate whether you give your permission to potentially use excerpts from this nomination in press releases, public announcements, speeches, etc., should your nominee receive the award.

Two additional letters of support (no more than 1,000 words each) from faculty members that provide specific details about the impact of the nominee’s work throughout their career.

A Current CV of the nominee that includes education, professional experiences, and other information applicable to the Distinguished Faculty Award criteria.

• The faculty member’s excellence in her or his discipline.
• The faculty member’s success in generating enthusiasm, insight, and thought in classrooms, studios, or laboratories.
• Practices that show the faculty member to be creative, stimulating, or responsive.
• Teaching that is especially collaborative, supportive, or innovative.
• Mentoring and advising that inspire academic excellence.
• Support for student research, scholarship, and creative activity.
• Innovative and creative pedagogical approaches in teaching style, evaluation methods, and/or course design.
• Ability to stimulate intellectual excitement and to motivate students.
• History of offering courses that are intellectually and/or creatively rigorous and challenging.
• Promotion of a wide range of ideas and of a classroom climate that supports the open expression of diverse opinions.
• Responsiveness to the needs of a diverse student body.
• Maintaining an atmosphere of integrity, civility, and respect in the classroom/studio/lab.
• Providing support, encouragement, and inspiration.
• Accessibility in and beyond the classroom.
• Thoughtful mentoring and guidance of student projects.
• Presentations of teaching on campus or in other settings.
• Practices that lead students to lives of purpose.

Research/Scholarship

• Research activities in private, public, or corporate settings.
• Publications.
• Presentations at scholarly meetings or conferences.
• Grants.
• Exhibits, performances, commissions, and artistic creations.
• Evidence of wide recognition by the academic community beyond Butler University.
• Evidence of a body of achievement rather than a particular piece of research, scholarship, creative work, or other achievements.  A substantial portion of the scholarly achievement shall have been accomplished as a faculty member of Butler University.

Please support the nomination with the particular books, articles, performances, or exhibitions that merit public acclaim or examples of the recognition and respect the nominee has earned within her or his discipline and that merit public commendation (i.e., reviews, invitations to speak, positions in professional organizations, etc.).

Service/Leadership

• Leadership in the governance of the University, in an academic department or program, in the faculty and its Senate, college, or ad hoc committees, or in other University positions.
• Leadership and service in professional or public organizations, boards, or commissions related to the faculty member’s academic field(s) or assignments.
• Specific projects and initiatives that have enhanced the quality of the University’s programs and advanced its goals.
• Public service that enhances the reputation of the University.
• Service and leadership that reflects and enhances the mission of the University.

Nominations

Nominations are invited from any member of the Butler community with faculty status; deans and department heads are especially encouraged to submit nominations. Nominators are encouraged to solicit an updated CV from the nominee in order to provide explicit, up-to-date information and examples.

In support of their nomination, nominators are expected to provide evidence that the nominee has:

• Performed meritoriously in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service in the last academic year and
• Produced outstanding outcomes (i.e., exemplary accomplishments that do not typically occur in other years) in teaching, scholarship, or service in the last academic year

Self-nominations are not permitted.

Winners receive a recognition certificate and a $1,000 stipend.

Classroom

• Innovative and creative pedagogical approaches in teaching style, evaluation methods, and/or course design tailored to first-year student needs.
• Offering courses that are intellectually and/or creatively rigorous and challenging while maintaining awareness of the course as geared towards first-year students.
• Promotion of a wide range of ideas and of a classroom climate that supports the open expression of diverse opinions among first-year students.
• Responsiveness to the needs of a diverse student body.
• Practices that promote a strong sense of belonging in first-year students as potential contributors to a vibrant intellectual community at the university.
• Encouraging first-year students to submit high-quality intellectual work to outlets that publish undergraduate student work (e.g., The Mall).

Activities with direct student engagement outside of the classroom

• Engaging first-year students with research outside of the context of the classroom.
• Advising that goes beyond class registration so as to think about what foundations a first-year student needs for future success.
• Participation in summer programs designed to help students find greater success in their first year.
• Participation in exploratory panels designed to help undecided students find appropriate major/minor paths.
• Participation in co-curricular activities designed to help first-year students think more thoughtfully about the liberal arts nature of their education (e.g., First Year Seminar Roundtables).
• Active partnership in mentoring programs for first-year students.

Activities that indirectly impact students

Examples of characteristics or accomplishments might include:

• Coordinating mentoring programs for first-year students at the department/program or college level.
• Participation in conferences or conference panels focusing on the first-year experience.
• Leadership in college or university committees and/or taskforces focused on first-year students.
• Leadership on initiatives at the departmental/program, college, or university level that target first-year students.
• Conducting studies at the department/program, college, or university level designed to measure effectiveness of practices designed to enhance the first-year experience.