THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE FACULTY SENATE Senate Document Number 0194F Date of Senate Approval 10/13/94 Signature of Senate Chair ___________________________ Date _________________ Action of Vice Chancellor: Approval __________________________________ Date ____________________ Denied __________________________________ Date ____________________ Reasons for denial and suggested modifications: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Statement of Faculty Senate Action: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DOCUMENT #1: UNCA Teaching Award Structure EFFECTIVE DATE 1 November 1994 BACKGROUND UNC Administrative Memorandum #343 (4/29/94) appropriated $9,500 to UNCA for teaching awards to be presented annually beginning in the 1994-95 academic year. The memorandum states that these "local" awards may range from a minimum of $250 each to a maximum of $2,500 each. After extensive discussion, the UTC proposes the establishment of 5 new awards as described below. Because these awards constitute an important recognition of faculty accomplishments, UTC requests that the Faculty Senate formally approve the proposed awards. (The same memorandum also created a set of system-wide awards, one per institution, of $7,500. This system-wide award is restricted to tenured faculty who have taught at their constituent institutions for at least 7 years.) It should be emphasized that this proposal seeks to establish the award structure only; a separate proposal establishing specific award criteria (e.g., statement of teaching philosophy from nominee, review of teaching materials, etc.) will be forthcoming. PROPOSAL (1) In response to Administrative Memorandum #343 (4/29/94), UNCA establishes the following 5 new teaching awards: Award for Excellent Teaching by an Untenured Faculty Member All full-time untenured faculty, regardless of appointment status, with a rank of lecturer or higher are eligible for this award. Award amount: $1,750. Award for Excellent Teaching by a Non-full-time Faculty Member All non-full-time faculty, regardless of appointment status, are eligible for this award. Award amount: $1,750. Award for Teaching Excellence in Humanities All full-time faculty who teach courses within a Humanities division department with a rank of lecturer or higher, regardless of tenure status, are eligible for this award. The Humanities Division includes the following departments: Art, Classics, Drama, Foreign Languages, History, Humanities, Library, Literature and Language, Mass Communication, Music, Philosophy (UNCA Faculty Handbook 1.5). Award amount: $1,750. Award for Teaching Excellence in Social Sciences All full-time faculty who teach courses within a Social Sciences division department with a rank of lecturer or higher, regardless of tenure status, are eligible for this award. The Social Sciences Division includes the following departments: Economics, Education, Health and Fitness, Management, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology (UNCA Faculty Handbook 1.5). Award amount: $1,750. Award for Teaching Excellence in Natural Sciences All full-time faculty who teach courses within a Natural Sciences division department with a rank of lecturer or higher, regardless of tenure status, are eligible for this award. The Natural Sciences Division includes the following departments: Atmospheric Sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, Physics (UNCA Faculty Handbook 1.5). Award amount: $1,750. (2) The remaining $750 from the General Administration allocation of $9,500 will be added to the existing Distinguished Teacher Award. No other changes are made in this award. (3) The 5 new awards will be presented during the Spring semester Faculty Meeting; the Distinguished Teacher Award will continue to be presented at Commencement. (5) Two calls for nominations for all teaching awards will be issued during each academic year, one at the end of Fall semester and one early in Spring semester. Nominations and supporting documents will be received by the UTC, which will select award recipients. RATIONALE In developing the categories for the new awards, the UTC considered categories that would be both pedagogically sensible and would provide equity of eligibility for awards across faculty categories. Because General Administration mandated an award maximum of $2,500 for this $9,500 pool, we are required to develop no fewer than 4 new awards. This would provide a minimum of 6 teaching awards at UNCA--the current Distinguished Teacher Award, the new system-wide award, and the 5 new UNCA awards. UTC decided to work with the minimum number of new awards for several reasons: (1) A total of 7 teaching awards provides many opportunities to recognize distinguished teachers but preserves the importance of the awards as relatively rare events. (2) A total of 7 teaching awards creates an extensive but still manageable workload for the committee deciding on award recipients. (3) Creating only 7 new local awards minimizes the cash discrepancy between the local awards (all set at $1,750) and the system-wide award (set by General Administration at $7,500) within the award limit set by GA. UTC selected these categories for the new awards for the following reasons: (1) Because the system-wide award requires candidates to be tenured faculty with at least 7 years teaching at UNCA, those untenured faculty with fewer years in rank deserve a separate opportunity for a teaching award. (2) Because different domains lend themselves to different teaching styles, a set of awards by domain (e.g., academic division) provides a mechanism to evaluate faculty within pedagogically sensible groups. UTC believes that the use of a single "call for nominations" for all awards will simplify the nomination/data collection process and will generate a larger candidate pool than a series of separate calls for nominations. UTC requests an effective date of November 1, 1994 because the first call for nominations for the system-wide award is scheduled for November 1. UTC recognizes that approval by this date requires suspending the "Comer rule" for vote on this document, and requests that Senate entertain such a motion.