51ÁÔÆæ

Committee to review candidates and select winners

The Improvement of Learning Committee will screen the nominees and recommend an award winner to the EVCAA and Chancellor.

Nominations Due: September 8, 2026
Nominees Notified: September 10, 2026
Dossier Due: October 16, 2026
Award Recognition: Holiday Awards Luncheon

Note: Please note that due to recent changes in academic structure, the 2026 Awards Process will be proceeding on a consolidated timeline for this year only. A call for nominations using a more expanded timeline for the 2027-2028 Awards will go out in March 2027.

Great teaching is far more than classroom performance per se. In fact, the essence of teaching is not performance, but the effective creation of situations in which learning takes place. The list of criteria that follow represents some of the main things that define an outstanding teacher at Indiana University 51ÁÔÆæ. It is not an exhaustive list and other qualities of excellence can and do exist. Nor is it implied that the award winner must excel in all of these categories. In the final analysis, the outcomes achieved by the instructor should be regarded as more important than the techniques employed. Criteria:

• The instructor promotes active learning and successfully encourages students to think imaginatively, critically, and independently.
• The instructor promotes a love of learning and contributes to the likelihood that students will continue their education through the baccalaureate (and beyond).
• The instructor helps students appreciate the relationship between the subject and its place in the scheme of things.
• The instructor’s pedagogical techniques are appropriate to, and effective with, a variety of different learning styles.
• The instructor interacts enthusiastically and effectively with students beyond the classroom, using office hours and other opportunities productively to promote learning and address individual student needs.

Evidence of effective teaching may be gleaned from

• Exams, syllabi, other course materials
• Teaching evaluation summaries.
• Recommendations from present and former students.
• Recommendations from colleagues, supervisors, and academic staff.
• Direct observation of review of videotapes by members of the committee.
• Evidence of subsequent success and achievement by former students.

Any member of the IU 51ÁÔÆæ community may nominate a faculty member for this award. In addition, following the selection of an awardee for any given year, the selection committee may forward to the next year’s committee the credentials of any candidates it believes to be worthy of further consideration.

In addition to public recognition, winners of the Distinguished Teaching Award for Full-time Faculty will be awarded a one-time stipend of $1,000.

The awardees will be nominated in the subsequent year for appropriate All-University teaching awards.