CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR PROGRAMS and DEPARTMENTS

On behalf of the Board of Regents, the USG Office of Academic Affairs is pleased to announce and invite nominations for the Regents’ Momentum Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Curricular Design.

The Momentum Award for Excellence in Teaching is designed to recognize teaching and instruction that promotes student achievement, purposeful, and productive academic mindsets.

Criteria

The award committee will look for persuasive evidence that nominees have:

• Evidence of class assignments or teaching pedagogies that foster connections to students’ purpose, including through engagement in high-impact practices, active career exploration, and engagement in deep and integrative learning.
• Evidence of class assignments or teaching pedagogies that develop productive academic mindsets, specifically by helping students discover purpose and value in coursework, develop constructive responses to academic challenges, and cultivate a sense of belonging.
• Evidence of engagement beyond individual classes, such as program alignment or collaboration with other campus units, employers, or community partners.
• Evidence of participation in an iterative,data-driven process for reviewing and reshaping courses and curricula.
• Engaged in the systematic examination of issues about student learning and instructional conditions which promote success, building on previous scholarship, the research literature and emerging practices.
• Developed a well-articulated teaching philosophy which propels the work of the USG’s Momentum Approach.

Eligibility and Nomination Procedures

Each institution is invited to submit one department or program nomination for this award. Campus nomination procedures should be determined by each institution; each nomination must be approved by the institution’s chief academic officer.

Required Documentation

Nomination portfolios are limited to 15 pages, including any appendices (1” margins, minimum 12-point font for each section below). Incorporating every kind of evidence will be impossible. Instead, each nominee will want to select only the strongest and most relevant evidence. Each portfolio must include the following information. NOTE: The TOC and the nomination letter do not count toward the maximum of 15 pages.

• A Table of Contents for the portfolio. NOTE: The TOC does not count toward the maximum of 15 pages.
• A nomination letter from the institution’s chief academic officer. NOTE: The nomination letter does not count toward the maximum of 15 pages.
• A narrative statement that describes how the program fosters connections to purpose, supports productive mindsets and is (or substantially contributes to) students’ pathways to degree completion . (1-2 pages).
• Data/evidence of the impact of their teaching techniques/pedagogies on student learning and its potential impact on teaching and learning in the discipline.
• One letter of support from colleagues and one letter of support from a student qualified to comment on the value and quality of the nominee’s activities.

Award Committee

A special Regents committee, composed of faculty and administrators from across the USG who are experienced in teaching and learning practices, will review the nomination portfolios and recommend finalists for each award.

Note: All documents must be combined into a SINGLE pdf file and uploaded through the Regents Portfolio Submission System. Portfolios that exceed 15 pages or do not meet formatting requirements will not be accepted.