2023 Innovative Teaching Award

The Academy of Distinguished Teachers is soliciting nominations for the 2023 Innovative Teaching Award. All ladder-rank Senate faculty members are eligible (this includes Professors of Teaching/LSOE). Two or more faculty members teaching as a unit may be nominated as a single team. Previous winners have been selected for their creation and implementation of high- impact teaching methods as well as by demonstrating exceptional passion in finding new and effective ways to help students learn.

Winner(s) will be honored at a campus-wide Symposium on Teaching Excellence and Innovation, followed by a Celebration of Teaching reception, in the spring of 2023. The Innovative Teaching Awardee(s) will be recognized as a featured presenter, speaking on their teaching methods as a part this event. Winner(s) will also receive a monetary award of $1,000. Specific Criteria for Review: There is a clear distinction between the Innovative Teaching Award and UCR's Distinguished Teaching Award. The latter is annually administered by the Academic Senate, and recognizes long-term excellence in the classroom as evaluated by students and faculty peers.

By contrast, the Innovative Teaching Award competition focuses more on innovation in teaching. This is broadly defined as the transformation of classroom pedagogy and/or course curricula with original, inventive, and impactful approaches to instruction. Untenured faculty (including Assistant Professors of Teaching/LPSOE) can be nominated for this award, and have been selected as awardees in the past. The awardee will be selected by members of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. The deadline for receipt of application materials is March 31, 2023, and awardees will be announced in the Spring 2023 quarter.

Instructions for assembly and submission of the nomination:

  1. One faculty member, serving as the lead nominator, should assemble all documents into a single PDF file. Requests for letters of support must be made by the person assembling the file, though these requests may be made in consultation with the nominee. The file is to be forwarded to the UCR Academy of Distinguished Teachers, Bree Lang by March 31, 2023.
  2. The subject line of an electronic submission should read, for example: "Nomination of Dr. (name) for the 2023 Innovative Teaching Award."
  3. Nominations should include the following in a single PDF file in this specific order:
    1. A nomination letter from a faculty member who is taking the lead in assembling the nomination package.
    2. The nominee's self-statement, not to exceed two pages, which details the innovative and transformational aspects of his/her teaching strategies and data-driven evidence of impact of these approaches on student success.
    3. Up to five letters of support from additional faculty members or a combination of faculty and students.
    4. Selected student evaluation data that provides evidence of innovative teaching.

For any questions about the award and/or nominations, please contact Bree Lang, Chair of the ADT Awards Committee.