Provost’s Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching Award

Purpose

To recognize junior faculty for superior teaching and advising on the MU campus.

Award

Up to three individuals will be given the annual award which will include a $1,000 prize, less applicable taxes.

Eligibility

Only faculty holding full-time, tenured, tenure track, or non-tenure track appointments with the rank of assistant professor or associate professor with no more than five years (individuals with service dates prior to August 1, 2020, will be considered to have more than five years) of service at MU are eligible. Nominees must be involved in teaching and advising students.

Nomination and Submission

This section outlines who can nominate individuals for this award and what to include in the nomination packet. As you prepare packets, please keep the purpose of the award and any listed criteria in mind. In many cases, there are length guidelines in place for packet components (e.g., include a letter of nomination that is no longer than 2 pages, double-spaced). The overall length of a packet is not of importance to the selection committee – the focus should instead be on providing convincing evidence of the nominee’s accomplishments and contributions. An unsuccessful nomination packet may be updated and resubmitted up to three times within a 5-year period, per award (i.e., Professor Truman the Tiger is not selected in the first year the packet is submitted and can now be resubmitted for the same award two more times within the next 4 years).

Who can Nominate for this Award:

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

What to Include in the Nomination Packet for this Award: 

1. Submission Requirements Form
2. Nomination/Cover Letter (limited to 2 double-spaced pages)
   • Describe the characteristics that serve to justify his/her being recognized for
     • teaching excellence and dedication to the teaching-learning process inside and outside the classroom
     • superior advising
     • demonstrated potential for publications and scholarly activities related to teaching and advising
3. Supporting letters (limited to three) from alumni, students (former or current), colleagues and departmental or divisional administrators
4. Personal statement from the nominee regarding his/her philosophy of teaching including how research and service are reflected in teaching (limited to 2 double-spaced
5. pages)
6. A representative list of courses taught (including syllabi) and students advised by nominee for the past five years
7. Data from two or more instruments that evaluate instructional activity (limited to the past five years). For example, student evaluations of teaching, peer observations of teaching, results of assessment of student learning, or other relevant methods of evaluation. Do not include copies of individual student or course forms/sheets. If including student evaluations of teaching, please use the Student Feedback on Teaching Chart (for all courses taught before Fall 2023). Also, please use this Student Feedback on Teaching Chart (for all courses taught beginning Fall 2023). Data for courses taught beginning Fall 2023 should come directly from the Construct Mean table on the Feedback on Instruction and Course form.  
8. Nominee’s curriculum vitae (limited to most recent 5 years)
   • Be sure to include grants received for the improvement of instruction or teacher preparation

Submission Process and Deadline:

The annual deadline for this award is January 15 (due the following business day when falls on a weekend or holiday).

Nomination packets for this award must be submitted by the Divisional Dean, who may establish an earlier deadline. The Divisional Dean will submit the nomination packet as a single PDF attachment via email to UMCProvostAwards@missouri.edu. The PDF file should be named as follows:YearProvJrTchng_LastFirst (e.g., 2026ProvJrTchng_TigerTruman)

Please contact us at UMCProvostAwards@missouri.edu with any questions.

Past Recipients