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Outstanding University Teacher Award- Category II
(Non-Tenure track faculty and staff)

Portfolio Preparation Guidelines

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Overview

This award is for non tenure-track faculty and staff whose teaching accomplishments are exceptionally significant and meritorious among their ISU colleagues. The award is designed to recognize persistent, focused, and purposeful dedication to striving for excellence over time. This includes: learning about and applying effective instructional practices across a wide range of teaching activities; evaluating the effectiveness of those practices; and reflecting on personal values and professional experiences to shape future teaching practices. This award is given to one recipient each year and includes a stipend.

Eligibility

To be eligible for an OUTA-II nomination, an Illinois State University teacher must:

1. Be a full- or part-time teacher
   1. With a non-tenure track appointment (i.e., not on a tenure track); or
   2. Who is an administrative professional with credit-generating teaching responsibilities; or
   3. Who is a civil service employee with credit-generating teaching responsibilities.
2. Have completed at least four semesters of university credit-generating teaching responsibilities at Illinois State University under one of the eligible appointments above.

Note: Previous award recipients are ineligible for five years.

Timetable

• Last Monday of February – Program information and guidelines are posted to the CTLT Web site and memos outlining the time frame and the process are distributed to Chairs, Deans, and others by the University Teaching Committee.
• First Monday of May – Names of nominees due from departments to the Chair of the University Teaching Committee (Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology, Campus Box 6370). Departments should inform nominees of their nomination. This date is intended to provide nominees with sufficient time to prepare their application materials and as such is the preferred date for nomination submissions. In extraordinary circumstances, nominees may be submitted after this date with no penalty.
• Summer – The Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology provides nominees with portfolio development support through workshops and individualized consultation. See CTLT summer programming for details (www.teachtech.ilstu.edu).
• Third Monday of September – Nominees’ application materials due from departments to the offices of their respective college deans.
• Third Monday of October – Application materials of final college nominees are due from college offices to the chair of the University Teaching Committee (Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology, Campus Box 6370).

Nomination Procedures

The process begins at the department level, where departments select departmental nominees among eligible faculty who merit nomination. Departmental nominees then prepare application portfolios for submission in Fall to their respective colleges, where they are evaluated with all other department-level nominees in the college. Colleges then forward their final nominees’ application materials to the University Teaching Committee for evaluation and selection of the awardees in late Fall. Details are explained below.

Department Level Process

Any current or former ISU department chairperson, school director, division head, or dean; any current or former ISU full- or part-time faculty member; or any current or former full- or part-time ISU student may nominate someone meeting the eligibility requirements for this award. Nomination letters must be typed, signed, dated. They should:

• Provide the nominee's name and academic department/division;
• Explain why the nominee should be considered for this award;
• Explain the nominator’s basis of knowledge of candidate's teaching

Letters of nomination should be sent directly to the candidate's department chair/division head using the Nomination Form. The chair/division head must send names of no more than two nominees to the University Teaching Committee by the first Monday of May, based on an evaluation process conducted by the chair/division head. Nominees should prepare their application portfolio, which chairs should forward to their college dean's office by the third Monday of September. When the college-level process is completed, department chairs will be informed of the college-level outcomes and then should inform all departmental nominees of those outcomes.

College Level Process

Each department/division shall endorse and forward the full application materials of up to two candidates to the dean's office by the third Monday in September. Each dean, in conjunction with the College Council, shall evaluate applicants based upon the selection criteria. The dean shall select and forward up to three candidates' application materials and letters of endorsement to the University Teaching Committee by the third Monday of October, with the exception of the College of Arts and Sciences that may forward up to three for each division (social sciences, sciences, humanities). The dean and/or college selection committee has the option of ranking nominees and/or providing written rationales, which should be forwarded to the University Teaching Committee as advisory information. The dean and/or college selection committee should notify each departmental nominee’s department chair of the college-level outcome so chairs can notify their department’s nominees.

University Teaching Committee Process

The UTC shall select OUTA-II recipients and notify each finalist of the outcome. In the case of portfolios of equal merit, preference shall go to those who have not previously won the OUTA-II.