Award for Teaching Excellence

The Award for Teaching Excellence recognizes and rewards excellence in teaching in the Faculty of Science. 

The award consists of a commemorative plaque and a cash prize of $1000 and the names of award winners will be permanently displayed on a wall plaque in the general office of the Dean of Science. This award is supported by an anonymous donation administered by the Quail Rock Foundation, as well as other donations. 

Eligibility

• nominees must have taught in the Faculty of Science at the University of Victoria for a minimum of 4 consecutive years
• tenured, untenured and sessional faculty, as well as laboratory instructors who are involved in extensive teaching functions, are eligible
• previous winners of the award, or of the UVic Alumni Award for Excellence and Teaching, are not eligible

Nominations

• nominations may be initiated by faculty, staff or students
• nominations should be submitted by the chair/director of the relevant department or school
• one nomination from a given department or school will be accepted each year
  • nominations from a previous year may be re-submitted for up to 3 additional years with updates made as appropriate
• After 4 years, the department or school is expected to re-evaluate their nomination but may nominate the same candidate if they are assessed to be the strongest candidate

Deadline for nominations is May 31 of each year. Nominations should be sent to lrudman@uvic.ca. 

Nomination package

A nomination package should include:

1. A covering letter from the chair/director or designate of the nominating unit that speaks to all criteria.
2. A statement of teaching philosophy by the nominee.
3. A Teaching Dossier (if applicable). In the absence of a Teaching Dossier:
   1. a list of courses or other types of instruction delivered by the nominee over at least the past 4 years. The list should include the course names and numbers and student enrollments.
   2. a summary of student evaluations (CES or unit equivalent) for courses taught by the nominee for at least the past 4 years. These must be scanned and submitted with the nomination package.
4. Complete sets of students' comments on the nominees teaching for the most recent 3 years. These must be scanned and submitted with the nomination package.
5. Up to 5 letters of support from former students focusing on the teaching ability of the nominee.
6. Up to 2 peer teaching reviews. Peer evaluations are deemed current if conducted within 2 years of submission of the nomination.
7. Up to 2 letters of support from faculty and staff addressing the criteria.

Evaluation criteria

• demonstrated breadth and consistency in teaching excellence. It will be an advantage for a candidate to have a longer history of teaching at UVic
  • it will also be advantageous for a candidate to have taught a variety of courses at a variety of levels
• classroom performance (as evidenced by peer teaching evaluations, course experience surveys and student letters)
• contributions to curriculum development (new courses, new/improved programs)
• graduate student training (if applicable)
• student mentorship
• outreach
• successful innovation in the classroom and/or laboratory
• course evaluations relative to the departmental context
• impact as gauged by student letters

When assessing nominations, these criteria will be weighted appropriately according to the responsibilities of the nominee’s position (e.g., teaching in contrast to research faculty, full time in contrast to sessional instructors).

Selection committee

The selection committee for the award will be the Teaching Advisory Committee of the Faculty of Science. The competition will run if at least one nomination is submitted.

The selection committee may decide, after reviewing all of the nominations, that no candidate merits the Award in a given year.

Past recipients