Writing & Linguistics Department
Department of Writing and Linguistics
P. O. Box 8026
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460
Dorothy Smith Golden Award for Teaching Excellence
Purpose and Description: This annual award of $1000.00 recognizes an excellent teacher whose practices are informed by research and scholarship in the subject and discipline. The award is not only to recognize consistently superior performance but also to reward continuous and measurable improvement as a teacher. The recipient will be a full-time member of the Department of Writing and Linguistics who supports the Department’s mission and goals, shows sensitivity to and concern with each student’s level and learning progress, and integrates the idea that learning is a complex process entailing not only knowledge but also application of that knowledge. Faculty are expected to demonstrate the following:
1. Knowledge of the subject and discipline
2. Course preparation and organization
3. Clarity and understandability
4. Enthusiasm for subject and teaching
5. Sensitivity to and concern with students’ level and learning progress
6. Availability and helpfulness
7. Quality of assignments and examinations
8. Impartiality in evaluating students
9. Overall fairness to students.
10. Methods informed by research and scholarship in the subject and discipline.
11. Involvement in the scholarship of teaching
Eligibility: All full-time temporary, non-tenure track, tenure-track, and tenured faculty completing or having completed at least three consecutive years of service in the Department of Writing and Linguistics at the time of their application. Recipients of the award will be ineligible for three years following their selection. Deadline for application is May 15.
Procedure: The Awards Committee uses multiple forms of assessment in making its decision. While no one is expected to submit documentation for every item from this list, applicants should refer to these items in selecting materials for the Awards Committee to review. Limit: no more than fifteen pages of documentation. The following categories are not requirements, but suggestions for faculty to consider as they prepare their materials:
From Students
1. Assessment of teaching skills
2. Meaningful assignments
3. Teacher-student interactions
4. Treatment of students
From the Faculty member her- or himself
1. Statement of teaching philosophy.
2. Self-appraisal: a self-reflective letter analyzing both strengths and weaknesses, the practices that worked and the ones that did not work, in one’s own pedagogy.
3. Self-appraisal as a faculty member with added academic responsibilities
4. Illustrative course materials
5. Evidence of student learning
6. Evidence of professional accomplishment
7. Student advisement
8. Committee memberships
9. Relevant service to the academic community (other than committees)
10. Relevant service to the non-academic community
11. Professional recognition
From Faculty Peers
1. Peer observation(s)
2. The value of teaching materials (assignments, handouts, tests, papers)
3. Interest in and concern for teaching
4. Mastery and currency of subject matter
5. Original research that strengthens teaching
6. Professional recognition
7. Participation in the academic community
8. Service to the non-academic community
From Department Chair
1. An appraisal of the faculty’s workload and other responsibilities
2. Student course enrollment
3. Efforts to improve teaching
4. Relevant service to the institution