- Purpose of the Award
- Criteria for the Award
- Eligibility
- Timing
- Nomination Process
- Selection Committee
- Evidence to Include in a Submission Package
This award recognizes faculty and contract instructors dedicated to sustained excellence in teaching, scholarship of teaching and the continual development of teaching.
Recipients of this award are designated as Provost’s Teaching Fellows, and as such, are invited and encouraged to participate in activities relating to the advancement of teaching excellence. Activity as a Provost’s Teaching Fellow may include invitation to meetings with the Provost and/or the Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Academic) to discuss matters relevant to teaching at Carleton, participating in university events (which may include public lectures, new faculty orientation activities, and facilitating workshops) and generally advocating for excellence in teaching. Recipients will be invited to publicly share their activities and advances in teaching with the Carleton community.
Purpose of the Award
- To celebrate excellent teaching at Carleton University.
- To encourage sharing of ideas and teaching/learning materials with colleagues for the improvement of university teaching.
- To encourage inter-disciplinary contact between instructors in the effort to enhance teaching excellence.
Criteria for the Award
- Demonstrated excellence in teaching for a minimum of five years.
- Activity in the improvement of university teaching (for example, participating in learning communities, facilitating teaching development sessions or completing the Certificate in University Teaching).
Eligibility
This award is open to all current faculty and contract instructors with a minimum of five years of teaching experience at Carleton University, regardless of discipline or level of appointment. Recipients may only receive this award once.
Note: Contract instructors who also hold staff positions at Carleton are eligible to apply for the Provost Fellowship in Teaching. However, applicants should not include accomplishments from their staff position as evidence of meeting the award’s criteria for engaging in activity in the improvement of university teaching. Award adjudicators will not consider work done in a substantive staff role as relevant for this particular fellowship.
Likewise, instructors who work as contract instructors for other institutions should not use contributions to institutions outside of Carleton as evidence to support their application.
Timing
Applications are due April 30 at midnight, with the fellowship to be awarded by June 30. Fellowship will commence on July 1.
Nomination Process
The Provost and Vice-President (Academic) will encourage nominations from the Academic Deans, Chairs and Directors and faculty members. Candidates may be nominated by a colleague or make a self-nomination for this award. Nomination packages are to be submitted in electronic form to teachingawards@carleton.ca.
Selection Committee
A selection committee of between three and five faculty members and the Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Academic) will review the applications and select recipients.
Evidence to Include in a Submission Package
Nominators are asked to submit a letter of nomination summarizing the nomination package along with any relevant supporting materials, such as the following:
Addressing teaching excellence
- The nominee’s teaching philosophy statement.
- The nominee’s teaching approaches and experience. This may include the following:
- A listing and brief description of courses taught by the candidate over the past five years (or more), with information on course enrolments, relevant trends in enrolment, and major course development or design efforts.
- Samples of excellent or innovative teaching materials, such as course handouts, exams, project descriptions, assignments, coursepacks or websites.
- Descriptions of teaching innovations, with evidence of their success in promoting better student learning – e.g. unsolicited letters from individual students or alumni describing the candidate’s teaching and its impact on student learning and development.
- A table summarizing course evaluations for the past several years
- Letter of support from the chair/director or designate of the department/academic unit.
- Evidence of the nominee’s teaching effectiveness. This may include the following:
- Evidence of success of former students that can be traced back to the influence of the candidate (e.g. student projects or theses submitted for publication, prizes and honours awarded to students, examples of excellent student work).
- Letters from alumni or colleagues referring to specific examples of the candidate’s teaching abilities and achievements.
- Unsolicited letters from students will also be accepted.
- Teaching-related honours, awards and recognition, including those from student associations, the candidate’s home department, faculty teaching awards, Carleton University, or professional organizations.
Addressing activity in the improvement of university teaching
- Evidence of contribution to curriculum development, which may be at the department, faculty or university-level.
- Evidence of activities to promote teaching excellence and improvement within or outside the candidate’s home department, faculty, and university (e.g. presenting seminars on teaching, acting as a mentor to new faculty, organizing workshops for faculty or teaching assistants, presenting at teaching conferences).
- Research on university teaching, including publications in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles or short articles in campus or departmental newsletters.
A short description of teaching interests that the candidate would wish to pursue or advocate for during the tenure of their fellowship is strongly encouraged.
Please note: Applications must not exceed 20 pages (excluding the online application form). Applications that exceed this limit will not be considered by the adjudication committee.