William T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence

Purpose

The University of Missouri 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 $15,000 award.

Eligibility

Full-time faculty who have completed a minimum of three years (as of Sept. 1, 2025) 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 one: Fall 2020, Spring 2021 and Summer 2021
• Year five: Fall 2024, Spring 2025 and Summer 2025 (You may include Fall 2025 in Year five if information is available.)

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)
3. Supporting letters (minimum of three and limited to five) 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 instructional goals, instructional strategies, and methods of bringing current research into the instructional process. (limited to 2 double-spaced pages)
5. List of courses taught and the number of students in each, as well as other instructional and advising activities over the most recent five years.
6. Data from two or more instruments that evaluate instructional activity (limited to the past five years). One instrument must be student evaluations of teaching. When 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. Other optional instruments can be 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.  
7. Nominee’s curriculum vitae (limited to most recent five years)

Submission Process and Deadline:

The annual deadline for this award is January 8 (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: YearKemper_LastFirst (e.g., 2026Kemper_TigerTruman).

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

Recipients of the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence