Excellence in Teaching Award

The University of Cincinnati’s Graduate College's annual Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes one outstanding master's student and one outstanding doctoral student for their teaching achievements.

The recipients will each receive a $1,000 award and be nominated for the regional Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) Excellence in Teaching Award competition.

Nominations for the 2026–27 Excellence in Teaching Award must be submitted directly to the Graduate College through the submission form by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, December 15, 2026. Nominees must meet the eligibility criteria outlined below. 

The recipients of the UC Excellence in Teaching Award for master’s and doctoral students will be announced by January 15, 2027. Each recipient (one master's student and one doctoral student) will receive $1,000, which will be posted to their Catalyst student account. Both recipients will also be nominated for the 2027 MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award competition.

The Excellence in Teaching Award competition is open to graduate students with teaching responsibilities who were enrolled in a UC graduate degree program during the 2026 calendar year.

Nominations may be submitted by students, faculty or staff members. Graduate programs may nominate multiple students in each category (master’s and doctoral).

All nomination materials must be submitted through the 2026–27 Excellence in Teaching Award submission form.

Nominations that do not meet the submission requirements, including deadlines, page limits, formatting and video length, will not be considered.

Required Nomination Materials: 

1. Letter of support from the head or chair of the student’s department/school/division. The letter must describe any departmental, school or division awards or honors the nominee has received for excellence in teaching. Maximum length: 2 pages. 
2. Current curriculum vitae (CV).
3. Teaching Portfolio. The nominee’s teaching portfolio must include the following sections and adhere to the specified formatting requirements. Maximum length: 6 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins.
   1. Teaching Philosophy and Practice  [25 points]. Share your teaching philosophy by describing your understanding of how people learn, and how that understanding, in turn, informs what you value most as an instructor and the way you approach teaching. This explanation could include your fundamental understanding of the purpose of education, the nature of learning, and/or your role as a teacher in facilitating that learning. Please describe the instructional strategies and evidence-based practices that you utilize to support your teaching philosophy. 
   2. Course Design [25 points]. Connecting course design to your teaching philosophy and practices, describe how you have approached instructional design in one of your courses. Focus on the main elements of instructional design (e.g. objectives, course organization, content and format, learning activities, interaction, assessments) and provide examples from your course along with your rationale for adopting them. 
   3. Video clip of “Teaching in Action.” 10-minute maximum video. Electronic link provided using YouTube or other video sharing website. [25 points]
      1. Provide a link to a 10-minute video clip from a collegiate-level course that demonstrates your teaching in action along with a one-paragraph description explaining how this video is representative of your teaching philosophy and practices. A variety of teaching settings may be used for the video including but not limited to lecture, facilitated discussion, lab, etc. as appropriate to the course. The focus should be on activities that demonstrate exceptional or innovative instruction or student learning, such as student engagement, personalized learning, project-based learning, etc. For asynchronous online courses, a video presentation by the instructor of key engaged learning activities, or learning environments, would be an example of good evidence. 
      2. Student Permission for Class Recordings. If the video includes classroom activity, all students present must sign a permission sheet granting permission to share the specific video(s) with award committee members. Permission sheets must be submitted as a separate document (item 4 below) and will not count toward the teaching portfolio’s page limit. 
   4. Evidence of Effective Student/Colleague Mentoring [10 points]. Describe your experience with mentoring students outside of the classroom, whether that be related to the courses you teach or in other settings. Additionally, discuss any experience you have with mentoring your peers or colleagues in the context of teaching. 
   5. Evidence of Professional Development [15 points].  Explain how you have used professional development opportunities to grow in your teaching excellence. If appropriate, how have you aligned professional development in the feedback you have received on your teaching? 
4. Submit signed permission sheets from all students present during recorded classroom activities. If submitting multiple sheets, combine them into a single PDF.

All nomination materials must be submitted directly to the Graduate College through the Excellence in Teaching Award submission form by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, December 15, 2026.

The submitter is responsible for uploading all required materials. Submitters will not be notified if materials are missing or incorrect. Nominators and nominees will not be permitted to submit missing materials or update submissions after the deadline.

Please direct questions to Megan Carroll, Graduate College program director, at carrolm2@ucmail.uc.edu.