Excellence in Teaching Award

The Graduate College's annual Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes one outstanding master's teaching assistant and one outstanding doctoral teaching assistant for their achievements in the classroom.

The UC Excellence in Teaching Award master's student winner and doctoral student winner will be nominated to the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) Excellence in Teaching Award competition.

The Graduate College award selection committee will select one outstanding master’s teaching assistant and one outstanding doctoral teaching assistant for the 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award. Nominated students must meet the eligibility criteria below. Nominations must be submitted directly to the Graduate College by Monday, December 2, 2024, by 5 p.m.

The recipients of the UC Excellence in Teaching Award for master’s and doctoral students will be announced by January 15, 2025. Each recipient will receive $1,000, posted to their Catalyst student account. The UC Excellence in Teaching Award master’s student winner and doctoral student winner will be nominated for a 2025 Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) Excellence in Teaching Award.

The Excellence in Teaching Award competition is open to all graduate students with teaching responsibilities enrolled in a UC graduate degree program during the calendar year 2024.

Nominations will be accepted from students, faculty, and staff members.

The nomination package will only be accepted via the 2024-25 Excellence in Teaching submission form. Nominations which do not adhere to submission requirements, including deadlines, page limits, formatting, and video length, will not be considered.

Nomination package: 

1. Letter of support from the head or chair of the student’s department/school/division: includes description of any departmental/school/division awards or honors presented to the nominated student for excellence in teaching.
2. Current curriculum vitae.
3. Nominee’s Teaching Portfolio, including the required sections outlined below: maximum of 6 pages, double spaced, 12-point font, one-inch marging.
   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/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. When recording class activity, pass around a sheet where all present students give their signed permission for the specific video(s) that will be shared with this award committee. The sheet(s) will not be included as part of the teaching portfolio. Submit sheet(s) as a separate document (item 4 below).
   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. Permission sheet(s) for class activity recording, signed by all present students. If submitting multiple sheets, combine the files into one single PDF.

Nominations must be submitted directly to the Graduate College, via the submission form, by 5 p.m. on Monday, December 2, 2024. The submitter is responsible for uploading all required materials for this award competition. Submitters will NOT be notified if materials are missing or the wrong file is uploaded, and the nominator/nominee will NOT be allowed to add missing materials or update materials after the deadline.

Please direct questions to Megan Carroll at carrolm2@ucmail.uc.edu.