Honors and Awards Guidelines

Revised December 2006

I. Purpose

The purpose of the Faculty Honors and Awards program is to honor faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences who are doing outstanding work in one or more of these areas:

Teaching
Research (includes Scholarship and Creative Activity)
Professionally Related Service
Outreach/Engagement.

Awards in these areas will rotate, with three awards being given annually. A Teaching Award will be given every year. The Award for Service will alternate with the Award for Outreach/Engagement. A Research Award will be given every year. (A Research Award in Arts and Humanities will alternate with a Research Award in Math and Science.)

II. Eligibility

Any current full-time member of the college faculty who meets these criteria:

is tenured or tenure-track
has held an appointment at BSU for at least three years
has accomplished outstanding work while at BSU
has not received an Award in the area of nomination for the last five years.

III. Nominations

Each department may nominate only one faculty member for each award under consideration that year. Nominations should be sent to the office of the Associate Dean. A nomination will consist of a chair’s or colleague’s letter of nomination that expresses department-wide support and describes the nominee’s achievements in the area of nomination. If written by a colleague, it should also be signed by the chair. This letter will be accompanied by a copy of the nominee’s vita that specifically focuses on achievements in that area. Additional materials should not be submitted with the initial nomination. If additional materials are submitted, they will not be passed on to the committee at this time. If a nominee is selected as a finalist, a full dossier will be requested by the Associate Dean and passed along to the committee.

Teaching
The letter should explain why the nominee is considered an outstanding teacher. It must contain a list of courses taught over the last three years and should include a narrative profile of student evaluations and involvement in other teaching-related activities. It should also include a narrative summary of the nominee’s teaching that evaluates such matters as technique (preparation, organization, mastery of subject matter, clarity of presentation, and ability to present complex ideas), enthusiasm, the ability to generate student interest in the discipline, and teaching-related activities outside the classroom (e.g., student involvement in research/creative activity, independent studies, accessibility).

B. Research (Includes Scholarship and Creative Activity)

The letter should describe why the nominee is considered outstanding in this area. In layman’s terms, it should describe and evaluate terms, publications, performances, or exhibitions regarding the quality and significance to the discipline. Achievements in this area will be assessed in the following order of importance.

Research published in books and refereed professional journals, publication of new compositions, recognized performances or juried exhibits. (Work done at national and international levels is often considered more prestigious than work done at regional or local levels, but this is not always the case. The committee should use its best judgment, with prestige being the overriding consideration.)
Research published in non-refereed reports; performances or works appearance in non juried venues.
Grants awarded.

Service
The letter should evaluate the nature and scope of both on- and off-campus service, with special emphasis on activities carried out in addition to the nominee’s ordinary duties as an employee of the University. The letter should note service in the following areas: University service (service as committee chair or member, invited presentations/lectures, consulting/editing, etc.); community service (presentations/lectures/special classes taught, consulting/editing/reviewing, etc.); participation in professional organizations, etc. Mention should also be made of how service activities are related to the nominee’s discipline, professional growth, and/or the public image of BSU. Any pay received for such service should be explained.

D. Outreach/Engagement

The letter should evaluate the nature and scope of activities that involve the nominee with the surrounding Treasure Valley community, with special emphasis on activities that link the University’s academic mission with its community partners to address issues of mutual benefit. (For example, shared research, jointly developed workshops, cooperative program development, technical development, and the like.)

Once the Honors and Awards Committee has selected finalists, the committee chair will forward the selections to the associate dean, who will notify all nominees of the results.

IV. Finalists

Upon notification, a finalist will notify the department chair, and the chair shall assist the finalist in preparing a dossier for the Faculty Honors and Awards Committee. Materials to be included in dossiers are listed below by area. Where letters are requested, the finalist will provide the chair with names and addresses, and the chair will then invite the letters, receive them, and include them in the finalist’s dossier.

Teaching
1. A sampling of syllabi, class assignments, and exercises used for grading.
2. No more than four letters of support from colleagues or former students that address the criteria listed under III. A above.
3. Student evaluations for the past three years.
Research (Includes Scholarship and Creative Activity)
Letters from two of the finalists’ colleagues, written in layman’s terms, that address the criteria listed under III. B above.
Service
Three letters from sources that address the criteria listed under III. C above.
Outreach/Engagement
Three letters from sources that address the criteria listed under III. D above.

V. Procedures

At the beginning of the fall term, the dean shall ask each department for a representative to serve on the Faculty Honors and Awards Committee. The representative must be tenured or tenure-track, associate or full professor. Faculty who are former award recipients should be strongly encouraged to serve on this committee.

The dean will also announce to departments that nominations for Awards are due in the associate dean’s office by the third or fourth Friday in September, at which time they will be forwarded to the committee.
The committee will meet by the first Friday in October, select a chair, and decide on specific procedures it will follow. (The committee may decide, for example, that members who are unable to attend meetings be invited to convey their assessments of candidates, but that they not have a vote.) By the third Friday in October the committee will select two finalists in each area and forward their names to the associate dean. (On rare occasions, three finalists may be selected.) The associate dean will notify all nominees of the results and will ask finalists to deliver dossiers to the associate dean’s office by the second Friday in November.
By December 15, the committee will have selected award recipients, and the committee chair will notify the associate dean of the selections and provide a brief (<300 word) summary of why each recipient was considered the most outstanding in the area of selection. Suggestions for improvements in the Guidelines may also be submitted. The dean will notify all finalists of the results. Committee members should keep results confidential until the dean announces award winners at the college’s spring semester opening meeting.

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