William T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence

Purpose

The University of Missouri-Columbia has been named as a beneficiary under a charitable trust established by William T. Kemper. The funds contributed by this trust are used to recognize the importance of teaching excellence to the success of the University by honoring MU faculty who have demonstrated outstanding teaching abilities.

Award

Each year five outstanding MU teachers will be recognized with a $10,000 award.

Eligibility

Full-time faculty who have completed a minimum of three years (as of 9/1/09) as a tenured, tenure track or non-tenure track position at MU may be nominated. The award is intended to honor and reward MU faculty who have demonstrated outstanding teaching ability. For this award, teaching is considered in its broadest sense. Teaching is defined to include advising and covers work with students at any level (undergraduate, graduate, and professional) and in a wide variety of settings in which instructional activity occurs at a comprehensive university (in the classroom, in the laboratory, and on the stage; through advising and mentoring students and guiding research; and through outreach activities).

Review Period

The Review Committee will limit the evaluation of the nominee's teaching records to the preceding five years: Year 1-Fall 04, Winter 05, and Summer 05 through Year 5-Fall 08, Winter 09, and Summer 09 (you may include Fall 09 in Year 5, if information is available).

Nominations

Faculty colleagues, departments, schools/colleges, or recognized campus organizations may nominate individuals.

Do not place nomination materials in a hard binder. The length of the nomination materials is not of primary importance because the final choice will be based on convincing evidence. Nomination materials will not be returned; therefore, the department chair should retain a copy of nomination materials for possible future use. Unsuccessful nominations may be updated and resubmitted in successive years.

Nomination materials should include:

1. Nomination/Cover Letter
2. Supporting letters (limited to 5) from nominee's chair and/or dean, colleagues, staff members, and students (current or former).
3. Nominee's personal philosophy of teaching statement, explicitly outlining his/her instructional goals, instructional strategies, and methods of bringing current research into the instructional process. Statement should not exceed five double-spaced pages.
4. List of courses taught and the number of students in each, as well as other instructional and advising activities during the preceding five years.
5. Summarization of multiple methods of evaluating instructional activity; including (but not limited to) student-generated teaching evaluations, evaluations of teaching effectiveness by peers, results of assessment of student learning, or other relevant methods of evaluation (do not include copies of individual student or course forms/sheets). Include interpretations of statistical data that must be explicitly detailed for understanding by reviewers who may not be familiar with the instrument.
6. Nominee's curriculum vitae (if listing presentations, include only those made in the preceding five years).

Submissions

Nominations and supporting materials must be submitted by the Divisional Dean. Submit an electronic version as one "unlocked" .pdf email attachment to umcprovostawards@missouri.edu Send only the original copy of the entire proposal packet to:

Office of the Deputy Provost
116 Jesse Hall
(573) 882-6597