Teaching Awards

THEMED AWARDS (replacing past divisional awards)

• Excellence in Teaching

The award for excellence in teaching is given to an individual who has gone above and beyond in the classroom, fostering engagement and growth from their students. This individual knows the difference between simply attending class and actively engaging/participating in it, and has inspired their students and/or colleagues to do their best work.

• Educational Leadership

The award for educational leadership goes to an individual who has been successful in extending learning beyond the classroom. They show support and dedication to their students, breaking down barriers and providing individualized support. They work to find and create opportunities to support student success, and provide mentorship to the student with which they work.

• Students as Partners

Students as Partners refers to a model of power-sharing between students and other members of the community wherein students are valued as collaborators, bringing their own perspectives and expertise into the co-creation and co-design of their own experiences in higher education. This award is given to recognize an individual who engages students as partners, lending power to student voices and supporting them to become the champions of their educational journeys.

• Community Engagement and Involvement

Community is a key aspect of the Bishop’s experience. This award is given to an individual who shows dedication and commitment to the Bishop’s and Lennoxville community. This can take the shape of grassroots projects, partnerships with local organizations, participation in student projects, and many other forms. The impact of this person’s involvement can be felt across campus, as they forge relationships and contribute to initiatives.

• Innovation

The award for innovation is given to an individual who has brought something new to our community. They identify challenges facing our community and execute novel ideas to effectively address them. They demonstrate creative problem solving and their work has impacted students experiences at Bishop’s.

 

ESTABLISHED AWARDS

There is no nomination to this award. All dossiers submitted will be considered.

• The William and Nancy Turner Teaching Award

This is the highest teaching award at Bishop’s. This award is given to a faculty member for outstanding contribution to our Bishop’s Community. The criteria considered are: mastery of subject matter, effective communication skills, insightful presentations, ability to challenge students intellectually, strong leadership, accessibility, organizational skills.

 

 

DOSSIER COMPONENTS

1.0 Nominator Letter: Anyone can be a nominator; nominators should know the nominee in some kind of teaching or mentorship capacity and have witnessed teaching moments (e.g., guest lectures, facilitating workshops, in-class assessment, giving talks or sitting on panels, in extracurricular engagement in its many forms). For student nominators, this could be in the classroom, experiential learning, in the lab, through mentorship, supervision, advising and/or extending learning beyond the classroom. For faculty, staff, or librarian nominators, this could take the form of co-teaching, through committee work, departmental visioning, curriculum design, in workshops, through collaborative projects, mentorship, etc. Nomination letters should not exceed 3 pages and should provide a holistic account of the nominee’s merits. Nominators can include excerpts of testimonials from a wide range of collaborators, including students, staff, faculty, administrators, librarians, community partners, colleagues from other universities, etc.

2.0. Supporting Letters: Supporting letters can be included from a wide range of collaborators, including students, staff, faculty, administrators, librarians, community partners, colleagues from other universities, etc. The number of nomination letters is up to the discretion of the Nominator but the total of nominating letters should not exceed 7 pages.

— Please note: Since we believe that teaching and leadership should be student-centered, a wide range of student voices should be included, either as stand-alone letters (under 2.0 Supporting Letters) or as testimonials in the nominator letter (1.0). A minimum of three student voices must be included in the dossier

The Selection Committee will evaluate each dossier on the evidence provided. It is therefore the responsibility of the nominator and/or nominee to provide the material they deem appropriate for assessment. The Selection Committee can only evaluate the materials submitted. All sections of the dossier are optional EXCEPT for 1.0 (the nomination letter). A good nomination letter will include evidence of teaching, mentorship, supervision, and/or leadership that is student-centered, and also include a wide range of student voices. We encourage nominators to read sections 3.0 and 4.0 for ideas about how to frame their letters.

3.0 Critical Reflection: This 3-4 page section is where the nominee has the opportunity to engage in critical reflection on their teaching and practices in the university. Drawing on their experiences and involvements as well as principles and guiding values, the nominee can illustrate why they are the best fit for the award. Specific and concrete examples of engagement – whether this is experiential learning, innovative & effective teaching practices, educational leadership, mentorship, transformative learning, research in scholarly teaching or others – are highly recommended. While this section should draw on a broad range of experiences, it should also emphasize the theme of the specific award.

4.0. Evidence: Content for this section will be up to the nominator and nominee to design, and we encourage creativity in this section; you should include a minimum of three of the following types of evidence: course materials, development of new courses, curriculum design, reflections on department design, syllabi, philosophy of assessment, posters of workshops, screen shots of online videos, pictures, an overview of teaching evaluation scores, engagement activities, service related to teaching and educational leadership, initiatives and projects related to student success, etc. This section can be taken from the nominee’s promotion/review dossier. This section should not exceed 15 pages.

 

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION

Responsibilities of Nominator: The Nominator will be responsible for indicating their willingness to nominate a faculty member or librarian for this year’s awards through a preliminary email expressing their interest by February 24, 2025. They will then write 1.0 Nominator Letter, solicit letters for 2.0 Supporting Letters, and submit these directly to the TLC/SRC Joint Committee, c/o [email protected] by March 15, 2025.

Responsibilities of Nominee: The Nominee will be informed of their nomination during the week of February 26 and can choose to accept or decline the nomination. If they continue with the nomination process, they have the option of developing and submitting 3.0 Critical Reflection, and 4.0 Evidence of Categorical Relevance. Please note: these sections are not mandatory but are strongly encouraged since the Selection Committee can only assess evidence submitted.

They will submit these documents directly to the TLC/SRC Joint Committee, [email protected].

These should be submitted by March 15, 2025. The Committee will meet to review the dossiers at the end of the month and winners will be notified shortly afterwards.

Format: All dossiers should be in Times New Roman 12-point font, with 2.5 cm (1 inch) margins, single-spaced. Submissions can be in Word format or PDF. Dossiers may include images, graphs, screen shots, etc.

 

TIMELINE

February 24: Nominators should email [email protected] expressing their interest in nominating a full-time faculty member, contract faculty, sessional faculty, or librarian directly to the TLC/SRC Joint Committee. This is just a preliminary expression of interest so a short email will suffice at this stage. Note: all dossiers will be considered for the William and Nancy Turner Teaching Award.

February 26: Nominees will be informed that their names have been put forward for the Teaching awards. Nominees will have to inform the committee of their acceptance of the nomination no later than February 27.

March 2: Nominators will be informed whether their nominee accepts the nomination (this will be done via the SRC/TLC committee, guarding anonymity) and they will proceed with a more formal nomination letter.

March 15: Nominators will submit sections 1.0 Nomination Letter and 2.0 Supporting Letters directly to the TLC/SRC Joint Committee, c/o [email protected].

March 15: Nominees will submit sections 3.0 Critical Reflection, and 4.0 Evidence directly to the TLC/SRC Joint Committee, c/o [email protected].

Winners will be announced at the SRC Awards Night in April.

 

GUIDELINES & ETHICAL PROCEDURES

In provincial and national teaching awards, dossiers impose limits where only student letters from graduated students are eligible. As a selection committee, we weighed the balance between graduated students and a student-focused teaching award for students on campus. In an attempt to strike a balance, we developed the following guidelines:

• Nominators are responsible for soliciting letters on behalf of the nominee.
• The nominee should maintain an arm’s length distance from the process of letters of reference.
• Letters of reference will be treated with confidentiality by the nominator as well as the selection committee. The nominee will not be informed of who nominated them.
• Please note that recipients of the William and Nancy Turner Teaching Award will not be considered for three years after their award.