Purpose

The Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching will be presented to an outstanding faculty member from each UM system institution. While each institution has flexibility in selecting its award recipient, the following criteria are recommended:

• Effective teaching
• Effective advising
• Service to the university community
• Commitment to high standards of excellence
• Success in nurturing student achievement

The UM system President will recognize the four award recipients (one from each campus) at the June Board of Curators meeting.

Eligibility

Nominee must be a current, full-time, tenure-track or non-tenure track, faculty member with at least five years teaching service at Mizzou.

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. Submission Requirements Form
2. Nomination/Cover Letter
3. Supporting letters (limited to eight) from nominee’s chair and/or dean, colleagues, staff members and students (current or former)
4. 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.
5. List of courses taught and the number of students in each, as well as other instructional and advising activities during the preceding five years
6. Copies of all student-generated teaching evaluations for the past three academic years (including both numeric and written feedback).
7. A 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 in this summarization). Include interpretations of statistical data that must be explicitly detailed for understanding by reviewers who may not be familiar with the instrument.
8. Nominee’s curriculum vitae (if listing presentations, include only those made in the preceding five years).

Submissions

Annual Deadline:  January 15 (due the following business day when falls on a weekend or holiday)

Nominations and supporting materials must be submitted by the Divisional Dean, who may establish an earlier deadline. Submit an electronic version as a single PDF attachment via email to UMCProvostAwards@missouri.edu. Name the file as follows: YearGovTchng_LastFirst (e.g., 2026GovTchng_TigerTruman). Original hard copies of the proposal packet are no longer required.

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

Past Recipients