Overview

A well-crafted nomination for this award would clearly address sustained excellence and innovation in guiding undergraduate research. This award is designed to foster and to reward excellence in involving and guiding undergraduate students in scholarly research. Up to two recipients will be selected to receive this award: one tenure-system faculty and one specialized faculty. The award consists of an honorarium and a personalized commemorative plaque.

Calendar*

Nominations are only accepted from colleges. Contact your college to determine its deadline for departmental submissions.

February 1 – Deadline for college nominations to be submitted.

Early March – Recipient(s) and their nominator(s) will be notified.

April – Awards are presented at the annual Celebration of Teaching Excellence.

*When a deadline falls on a weekend or campus holiday, nominations will be due the next business day.

Eligibility

Faculty:

Tenure-system faculty member at Illinois
Taught on the Urbana-Champaign campus for at least 5 years
Has not won this award in the previous 10 years

Specialized Faculty:

Specialized faculty member at Illinois
Taught on the Urbana-Champaign campus for at least 5 years
Has not won this award in the previous 10 years

Evaluation Criteria

Sustained excellence in involving and guiding undergraduate students in research projects
Positive impact on student scholarship or intellectual development
Innovative approaches to guiding undergraduate research
Other contributions to guiding undergraduate research (e.g., developing courses and curricula; leading workshops on mentoring undergraduates in research; advancing the scholarship of teaching and learning; or making other multidimensional contributions to enhancing undergraduate research; etc.)

Nominations

A nomination may be submitted by students, faculty members, administrators, or alumni, and should be submitted to a departmental selection committee.* (See Selection section below for additional information.)

*The selection committee should include at least one graduate student member. Note that faculty members who have been nominated during a particular year should not serve on the committee during that same year.

Nomination packets must include all materials described below, and should be formatted in 12-point Times New Roman or equivalent font; single-spaced; and 1-inch margins. Please follow this outline when submitting a nomination:

The standard cover page (Attachment A) with the appropriate signatures. (Not to exceed 1 page.)
A nomination letter addressing each of the Evaluation Criteria described above. The nomination letter should indicate why the nominee is exceptional as an excellent mentor of undergraduate research. (Not to exceed 3 pages.)
A philosophy statement provided by the nominee. This statement should include a discussion of the challenges, methods, and goals of guiding undergraduate research. (Not to exceed 2 pages.)
Two letters of support* from current or past undergraduate students, preferably one current student and one alumnus. (See Attachment C for a sample solicitation letter.) (Not to exceed 2 pages each.)

*NOTE: Letters from students should be solicited by the departmental selection committee, not the nominee. The nominee may be asked to suggest some names and the department should add some names.

Attachments

Attachment A: Nomination Cover Sheet (you must download the form from Box to complete it)
Attachment C: Sample Letter Request from Former Student

Submission

Nominations should be submitted first to a departmental committee. This committee will select its final candidates to forward to the college. (The college may establish a limit for the number of candidates each departmental committee can submit.)

A college committee, which should include at least one undergraduate student member, will select the final candidate nominations to submit to campus.

Nominations are only accepted from colleges and must be submitted to tab-awards@illinois.edu. The nomination deadline is 11:59 p.m. February 1. If this date falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline is 11:59 p.m. the next business day.

Selection

The campus selection process is overseen by the Teaching Advancement Board, and is advisory to the Provost. Recipient(s) and their nominator(s) will be notified by early March. Awards are presented at the annual Celebration of Teaching Excellence.

Assistance

For more information about Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction, contact the Office of the Provost at tab-awards@illinois.edu or 217-333-6677.