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Policy and Procedure Statements

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

Presidential Awards for Excellence In Teaching, Scholarly/Creative Activity, Service, and Presidential Seminar

AA/PPS No. 02.04.20
Issue No. 4
Effective Date: 8/10/2022
Next Review Date: 6/01/2025 (E3Y)
Sr. Reviewer: Senior Vice Provost

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 ranks of senior lecturer or 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, senior lecturer, or lecturer.

      3. Clinical faculty and professors of practice 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 $5,000, a plaque, and a commemorative medallion, presented by the president to each new recipient at the Fall Convocation. 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 a $2,000 award. 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 a $1,000 award. 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 recipient of the Presidential Seminar Award will deliver the Presidential Seminar during the spring semester and will be honored at a reception during the fall semester.

      3. The Presidential Seminar Award consists of a $5,000 stipend, 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.

      4. The recipient of the Presidential Seminar Award will also be recognized with the Valero Award for Excellence, which consists of a $2,500 stipend and a certificate presented at a Academic Affairs Council meeting in the fall semester.

      5. 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 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 awardee, 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 associate vice president for Academic Success and dean of University College will chair the committee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching; the associate vice president for Research and Federal Relations will chair the committee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activity and the committee to recommend the Presidential Seminar recipient; and the associate vice president for Institutional Effectiveness will chair the committee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Service. The chairs do not vote.

    4. By November 1, the provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs 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 over the prior five years.

    2. Criteria for all three of the Presidential Awards for Excellence (teaching, scholarly and creative activity, and service) include:

      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 executive vice president for Academic Affairs 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. Department 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 provide a list of the nominees and their respective NetIDs to the associate vice president for Institutional Effectiveness 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 signed by the dean and college council representative and all supporting documentation for the respective awards will be uploaded in an electronic format (PDF for text, JPEG for photos, and MPEG4 for videos) by March 31. The selection committee chairs will ensure that the files are placed on a restricted website, where committee members can access the files for review.

    6. Nomination materials must be organized in the order specified in this policy, beginning with the completed 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. Nomination portfolios will consist of:

      1. Required Documents (upload to folder #1)

        1. completed nomination form:

          1. Presidential Award for Teaching Nomination form;

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

          3. Presidential Award for Service Nomination form;

        2. introductory (academic and professional background) section of Texas State curriculum vitae and only portions of the vita relevant to the award category;

        3. a narrative to elucidate accomplishments in the award category (this may include a statement of personal goals or philosophy in award category and a statement that ties together activities, not to exceed five double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font, pages with one-inch margins);

        4. internal and external invited letters, statements, or testimonials to support accomplishments in award category (minimum of three, not to exceed six letters; combine all letters into a single PDF); and

        5. a summary not to exceed 150 words modeled on those posted on the president’s website.

      2. Evidentiary materials and exhibits chosen by nominee. Click here for examples of each award (upload to folder #2). Attendant materials for exhibits, which, together with the required documents above, support:

        1. sustained commitment or activity;

        2. internal and external recognition of activity; and

        3. impact or significance of activity.

    2. Nomination portfolios that do not conform to the documentation outlined in Section 05.01 will not be considered. It is strongly recommended, therefore, that chairs and directors, deans, and former college awardees mentor nominees in preparing their materials. Faculty members nominated at the college-level must submit nomination materials for review at the university- level in order to qualify for the Presidential Distinction Awards.

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

  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 executive vice president for Academic Affairs. 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. While committee members are encouraged to participate in-person, electronic participation is allowed for members assigned to the Round Rock Campus or with extenuating circumstances authorized by the committee chair. If time permits, an appointed committee member who is 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 executive vice president for Academic Affairs will review the committees’ rankings and forward recommendations to the president.

  7. AWARD PROCESS

    1. By June 1, the president will notify the provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs 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 at the Fall Convocation. 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 awardee at the Fall Convocation and will preside at the fall reception honoring the recipient. The president will present the recipient with a plaque, a commemorative medallion, and acknowledge the $5,000 remuneration that accompanies the Presidential Seminar.

    6. The Presidential Seminar will be held during the spring semester. The recipient’s department or school will host the Presidential Seminar. Faculty from the recipient’s department or school, professors in the same discipline at other universities, and past Presidential Seminar presenters will be specifically invited to the presentation, and the event will be announced to the university community.

    7. 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:

      PositionDate
      Senior Vice ProvostJune 1 E3Y

  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