AA/PPS 02.04.20 - Presidential Awards for Excellence In Teaching, Scholarly and Creative Activity, Service, and Presidential Seminar

POLICY STATEMENT

Texas State University is committed to providing recognition to faculty and reward superior accomplishments for excellence in teaching, scholarly and creative activity, and service.

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

   1. The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching, Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activity, and Excellence in Service are awarded through the Texas State University Faculty Awards Program.

   2. These presidential awards are intended to recognize and reward superior accomplishments, to provide models of excellence for fellow faculty, and to encourage all faculty to continue to perform, improve, and advance their teaching, scholarly and creative activity, and service.

   3. Awards are made on an annual basis in each of the three categories: teaching, scholarly and creative activity, and service.

      1. In teaching, three awards are made to faculty, one at the ranks of professor or associate professor, another at the rank of assistant professor, and a third at the rank of lecturer.

      2. In scholarly and creative activity and service, two awards are made to faculty, one award at the ranks of professor or associate professor, and the second at the ranks of assistant professor or lecturer.

      3. Clinical, instructional, and practice faculty are eligible as per the ranks noted above. All nominees must hold full-time appointments at Texas State. Research faculty, chairs or directors, associate deans, and deans, including those in interim roles, are not eligible to apply for these awards.

   4. Faculty may receive presidential awards more than once, but not in the same category, regardless of rank, more than once every five years. During this five-year period, Presidential Excellence Award recipients will be ineligible for the Presidential Distinction and College Achievement Awards for the category in which they received the presidential award.

   5. Each presidential award consists of a plaque and a commemorative medallion. Awardees may be asked to serve in honorary roles at commencement or other university events and are encouraged to wear award medallions with their academic regalia. Only recipients of Presidential Awards for Excellence at the university level should use this title in their curriculum vitae.

   6. The awards program also provides that faculty nominated at the college-level, who complete the university-level nomination process, will receive recognition. These awards are the Presidential Distinction Awards and recipients should use this title in their curriculum vitae.

   7. Supplementing the above two awards, each college dean may recognize two additional faculty members in each of the award categories to receive recognition. These awards are the College Achievement Awards, and this title should be used in curriculum vitae listings.

   8. In addition to the awards for excellence is the Presidential Seminar Award. The purpose of the Presidential Seminar Award is to highlight and recognize superlative research, creative work, or other scholarly efforts undertaken by Texas State faculty members. Those nominated for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activity at the university level may elect to be considered for the Presidential Seminar Award.

      1. Only nominees eligible for the scholarly and creative award can be considered for the Presidential Seminar Award.

      2. The Presidential Seminar Award consists of a commemorative medallion, an individual plaque, and the awardee’s name added to a plaque on permanent display at the university. Recipients are encouraged to wear award medallions with their academic regalia.

      3. The recipients of the Presidential Seminar Award will also be recognized with the Valero Award for Excellence, which consists of a certificate presented at an Academic Affairs Council meeting in the fall semester.

      4. Faculty may receive the Presidential Seminar Award more than once, but not more than once every eight years.

   9. Recipients of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching may elect to be considered by the president to be university nominees for the Texas State University System (TSUS) Regents’ Teacher Award, provided they have at least five consecutive years of full-time teaching experience at Texas State. According to the TSUS Regents’ Teacher Award Guidelines and Criteria, “The purpose of the TSUS Regents’ Teacher Award is to honor exceptional instructors at TSUS component institutions. The focus of the program is to reward outstanding performance in their role as teachers…, as evidenced by their dedication, skill and knowledge of curriculum.”

2. PROCEDURES FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF REVIEW COMMITTEES

   1. The provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs (EVPAA) will request, by September 1, the appointment of committee members for review of Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching, Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activity, including the selection of the Presidential Seminar awardees, and Excellence in Service.

   2. Faculty Senate will appoint faculty representatives from each college to serve on review committees. Appointees should be respected members of the faculty with distinguished records in the award category. Faculty members who serve on review committees provide significant university-level service during the awards selection cycle.

      1. The term for appointed members will be three years and will be staggered to ensure that there are experienced committee members. As vacancies or displacements occur, Faculty Senate will appoint members to serve either a full three-year term or an unexpired term, as is appropriate. Any member of the committee who becomes a nominee for the award will resign from the committee and be replaced by another Faculty Senate appointee who will fill the remainder of the nominee’s term.

      2. In addition to the members described above, the Excellence in Teaching Committee will also include four students: two matriculating undergraduate students appointed by the dean of Students and two graduate degree-seeking students appointed by the dean of The Graduate College.

      3. The Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activity Committee will also serve as the Presidential Seminar Award Committee and the committee to make recommendations on the selection of the Denise M. Trauth Endowed Presidential Research Professorship every three years.

   3. The vice provost for Academic Innovation and Success will chair the committee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching; the vice president for Research will chair the committee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activity and the committee to recommend the Presidential Seminar recipients; and the dean of Honors College will chair the committee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Service. The chairs do not vote.

   4. By November 1, the provost and EVPAA will notify the committee chairs of the names of committee members. The committees will be contacted to plan for their first meeting by December 1. At the conclusion of the award process, the committees will forward any proposed changes to the current policy to the senior vice provost to be reviewed before the next award cycle.

3. PROCEDURES FOR AWARD CRITERIA

   1. All awards will be based exclusively on work conducted while serving in a teaching appointment at Texas State. In all award categories, a sustained record of achievement must be documented. In their deliberations, the committees will place emphasis on accomplishments made during the most recent five-year period.

   2. All three of the Presidential Awards for Excellence (e.g., teaching, scholarly and creative activity, and service) are evaluated on the extent to which the nominee demonstrates the following:

      1. sustained commitment and activity;

      2. internal and external recognition; and

      3. impact or significance of endeavors.

4. PROCEDURES FOR NOMINATION PROCESS

   1. By November 1, the provost and EVPAA will send a memo to each dean and to all faculty inviting nominations for the Presidential Awards for Excellence.

   2. By November 30, the college deans will remind college faculty members of the submission deadline and the need to prepare supporting documentation to accompany nominations. Chairs and directors, as well as department and school personnel committees, should also encourage qualified faculty to apply.

   3. Department and school faculty or faculty committees will nominate colleagues to submit nomination forms and supporting documentation to their respective college dean by February 1.

   4. Each college council may select the college nominees from the department nominations or may endorse a selection process conducted by department and school faculty representatives. In either case, selections will be made in accordance with the criteria specified in this policy. College deans will notify the selected college nominees, the chairs of the university award committees (see Section 02.03) and will complete nomination spreadsheet via SharePoint to Faculty and Academic Resources by February 28. Deans should also notify faculty members not selected for consideration.

      In the scholarly and creative activity and service categories, two nominees from each college for professor and associate professor awards and two nominees for the assistant professor, senior lecturer, and lecturer awards may be forwarded for review at the university level.

      1. In the teaching category, there may be two nominees for the professor and associate professor award, but one nominee for the assistant professor award and one nominee for the senior lecturer and lecturer award.

   5. Nomination forms must be signed by the dean and college council representative and all supporting documentation for the respective awards will be uploaded in the Faculty Qualifications system. Faculty nominated from their colleges will be added to the Faculty Qualifications system and will receive notification via email stating a task is pending. The faculty nominee will login to Faculty Qualifications, select Workflow, locate their inbox and select the Workflow Task assigned for the awards submission process. All information must be uploaded in Faculty Qualifications according to policy standards by March 31. Late submissions will not be accepted. Members of the selection committees will be provided access to all submitted information through the Faculty Qualifications workflow process.

   6. Nomination materials must be organized in the order specified in this policy, beginning with the completed and signed nomination forms referenced in Section 05.01 a. 1) (a), (b), or (c). Where there are restrictions on the number of supporting documents, the committee chairs will instruct committee members to review the documents sequentially and to review no more than the maximum number of documents allowed.

5. DOCUMENTATION PROCEDURES

   1. Each nominee will create a nomination portfolio in Faculty Qualifications that contains documents organized into two folders: Folder 1 (includes required documents) and Folder 2 (includes evidence of accomplishments). The requirements for documentation to be included in each folder are outlined below.

      1. Folder 1 must include only the required documents listed below.

         1. The relevant nomination form that is completed and signed:

            1. Presidential Award for Teaching Nomination form;

            2. Presidential Award for Scholarly/Creative Activity Nomination and the Presidential Seminar Award Nomination form; or

            3. Presidential Award for Service Nomination form.

         2. The introductory (academic and professional background) section of the nominee’s Texas State vita.

            1. The most relevant version may be used (e.g., Version A or Version B).

            2. Only portions of the vita relevant to the award category must be included.

         3. A narrative to elucidate accomplishments in the award category.

            1. The narrative must include

               1. a statement of personal goals or philosophy relevant to the award category; and

               2. a statement that describes the cohesiveness/focus of the nominee’s activities.

            2. In total, the overall narrative must not exceed 1,200 words.

         4. Statements of support.

            1. Statements of support may include internal and external invited letters, statements, or testimonials to support the nominee’s accomplishments in the award category.

            2. Each nominee must submit at least three statements of support. No more than six statements of support are permitted.

            3. All statements of support must be combined into a single PDF.

         5. A brief biographical summary.

            1. The summary must not exceed 150 words.

            2. The summary should be modeled similar to those posted on the president’s website.

      2. Folder 2 must include only evidence to support the nominee’s relevant accomplishments.

         1. The evidentiary materials and exhibits included in Folder 2 are chosen by the nominee. (The Folder 2 – Exhibits form provides examples of evidence relevant to each award.)

         2. The supporting evidence, together with the required documents, should collectively showcase the nominee’s sustained commitment or activity, internal and external recognition of activity, and impact or significance of activity.

   2. Nomination portfolios that do not conform to the documentation outlined in Section 05.01 or that are submitted past the deadline will not be considered. It is strongly recommended that chairs and directors, deans, and former college awardees mentor nominees in preparing their materials.

      1. Prior award recipients’ nomination forms, narratives (see Section 05.01.a.3), and biographical summaries (see Section 05.01.a.5) may be available to assist faculty in preparing future submissions.

   3. Faculty members nominated at the college level must submit nomination materials for review at the university level to qualify for the Presidential Distinction Awards.

6. PROCEDURES FOR REVIEW PROCESS

   1. Chairs of each review committee will remind committee members that all deliberations and recommendations are confidential.

   2. By May 1, each committee will review nominations and make recommendations based on the criteria outlined in Section 03.02, using the specified rubric and evaluation instrument and the Committee Member Evaluation form. Committees will forward their first, second, and third choices to the provost and EVPAA. The nomination forms and the names of all university-level award nominees will accompany the ranked list of finalists.

   3. Only committee members who have reviewed all nomination portfolios to select the first, second, and third ranked nominees may vote. Committee members are encouraged to participate through in-person or synchronous electronic participation. Asynchronous review may be permitted with extenuating circumstances, authorized by the committee chair. If time permits, an appointed committee member unable to fully participate in the process may recommend an alternate college representative to the Faculty Senate for endorsement. The same expectations for portfolio review and attendance apply to alternate members.

   4. By May 15, the provost and EVPAA will review the committees’ rankings and forward recommendations to the president.

7. AWARD PROCESS

   1. In June of each year, the president will notify the provost and EVPAA of the award recipients.

   2. The president will announce the recipients through a personal letter to each nominee and an administrative memorandum to the faculty.

   3. Media Relations will prepare and distribute the appropriate news release.

   4. The president will award a plaque and commemorative medallion to each recipient. Nominees selected for Presidential Distinction Awards and College Achievement Awards will be presented award certificates at their fall college meetings.

   5. The president will recognize the Presidential Seminar awardees. The president will present each recipient with a plaque and a commemorative medallion.

   6. The president will nominate qualified recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching for the TSUS Regents’ Teacher Award in accordance with procedures established by the TSUS Regents (see Section 01.09).

8. REVIEWERS OF THIS PPS

   1. Reviewer of this PPS includes the following:

      Position	Date
      Senior Vice Provost	June 1 E6Y

9. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

   This PPS has been approved by the following individuals in their official capacities and represents Texas State Academic Affairs policy and procedure from the date of this document until superseded.

   Senior Vice Provost; senior reviewer of this PPS

   Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs