2025 Teaching Excellence Award

Teaching Excellence Award Nomination Form

Teaching Excellence Award Timeline

Nomination and Application Procedures

1. A faculty member may be nominated for the Teaching Excellence Award by other faculty members or an academic administrator. A faculty member may not be nominated by a relative, spouse, or significant other, or place his/her own name in for nomination.  The nominee must be a full-time faculty member who has served the Nebraska State Colleges for a minimum of four consecutive years and taught a minimum of 15 credits during each academic year. A faculty member is ineligible for the award if they have received the award within the past seven years (no later than 2017).

2. Nomination forms, guidelines, and the award selection timeline are available on the Nebraska State College System’s Teaching Excellence Award website. Dissemination of information relative to the award, including all deadlines, will be undertaken by the Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA).

3. It is the responsibility of the nominator to complete the nomination process by providing the nomination materials listed below and submitting them to the College’s Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) by Monday, November 4, 2024.

4. All nominations should include the following materials:

   1. An original nomination form.

   2. A 1-2 page (abridged) resume or vita that provides a concise summary of education, teaching experience, teaching awards, publications, service, and other significant contributions.  Focus on teaching; include the names of publications, articles, or books, but summarize the rest.  Only the first two pages of a longer submission will be considered.

   3. Three to four letters of support (one to two pages each) as follows:  

      • One letter must be from the nominator;

      • One to two letters from campus colleagues, such as faculty peers, department chairs, or academic deans; and

      • One letter from a former student.

5. Nominees will be notified by the VPAA of their nomination, the source, and the criteria to be met for the award by Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

6. The VPAA will forward the nomination to the Campus Review Committee, to be determined by the College President and VPAA, by Monday, November 11, 2024. The Campus Review Committee will review the nominations and comment on each, relative to each candidate’s qualifications for the award. They will rank the candidates and recommend one as the recipient of the College-level TEA award. The nominations of all candidates will be forwarded to the VPAA for review and comment by Monday, January 13, 2025.

7. Upon receipt of the Campus Review Committee’s feedback and recommendation, the VPAA will review all nominations and comment on each, relative to the candidates’ qualifications for the award.  The VPAA will also recommend one nominee for the College-level TEA award.

8. Upon completion of the review process, the VPAA will forward to the College President all nominations of qualifying faculty by Monday, January 27, 2025. After reviewing the recommendations from the review committee and the VPAA, the President will complete a final review of the recommendations and select the individual who will receive the College’s Teaching Excellence Award, who will also be the College’s nominee for the System-level award.  Should the VPAA and/or President not concur with the review committee’s recommendation, the recommendation will be returned to the committee for reconsideration. Each award nominee will be formally notified of the status of his/her nomination following the President’s review and decision. 

9. Each award nominee will be formally notified of the status of his/her nomination following the President’s review and decision, to be completed by Monday, February 3, 2025. The faculty member selected for the College-level Teaching Excellence Award will be asked to prepare a personal statement of no more than 1,000 words that provides a clear picture of the faculty member’s work with students and their scholarly approach to teaching and learning, based on the award criteria. Please note that focus should be given to recent activities that support the nomination.

10. Each President will submit the College’s Teaching Excellence Award recipient’s name and materials, along with their letter of support and the faculty member’s personal statement, to the System Office Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (VCAA), for consideration of the NSCS Teaching Excellence Award, by Monday, February 17, 2025. 

11. The VCAA will ensure a review and recommendation process is completed that includes two outside reviewers and two internal reviewers, who are the current Board members of the Academic and Personnel Committee.  Each reviewer will provide comments and individually rank each nominee, based upon the award criteria, by Friday, March 14, 2025.

12. The VCAA will provide the members of the Academic & Personnel Committee with the results of the review and ranking process.  The Committee will make the final selection of the NSCS Teaching Excellence Award recipient and forward that name to the Board for approval during the meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 20, 2025.

13. The recipient of the NSCS Teaching Excellence Award will be formally announced by the NSCS on Friday, March 21, 2025, via a press release from the System Office.

14. The award recipient will be recognized at their College’s Spring Commencement Ceremony, scheduled for Saturday, May 10, 2025, as both the College-level and NSCS system-level award recipient for the year.  At this time the stipend check from the Foundation Office will be presented by the representative NSCS Board member.

15. The NSCS Teaching Excellence Award recipient will be formally recognized by the Chair of the Academic & Personnel Committee of the NSCS Board of Trustees and receive a commemorative gift during the next Board meeting held at their College.