What is the Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching?
The Office of the Provost confers a university-wide Graduate Student Award for Excellence
in Teaching at the annual spring Celebration of Teaching Excellence. Up to four $500
awards will be presented each year: two in the category of Instructor of Record and
two in the category of Teaching Assistant.
The purpose of the award is to promote and reward teaching effectiveness by current
graduate students and to provide award nominees with training on how to present evidence
of teaching excellence. As such, nominees are evaluated based on a dossier that assists students
in preparing for the academic job market. The dossier is composed of elements that
provide evidence of effective teaching.
Selection Criteria
Specific details about the criteria for each award category (Instructor of Record
and Teaching Assistant) will be provided to all nominees during their initial consultation
with CTE. In general, award dossiers will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Preparation and organization, clear communication of course content, engagement of
students in learning, approachability and availability to students, feedback on learning,
and fairness in grading.
Participation in groups committed to reciprocal academic growth, especially those
centered on developing/fostering teaching excellence. This can range from participating
in workshops, attending professional development/teaching conferences, and leadership
roles related to your field.
Reflect and demonstrate growth by applying faculty, supervisor, peer, and student
feedback and by incorporating knowledge gained from department, school, and University
professional development opportunities.
Eligibility
An eligible nominee must
be a current graduate student at Duquesne University
not hold a full-time teaching appointment at Duquesne University
have served as a teaching assistant (TA) or instructor of record for at least two
semesters at Duquesne University (this can include summer semester).
have served as a TA or instructor of record within a year of the nomination
an instructor of record will be defined as the official instructor of the course,
listed in the registrar and named on SES/SPOT evaluation forms
a teaching assistant will be defined as a graduate student participating in significant
teaching responsibilities including, but not limited to, conducting office hours,
guest lecturing on multiple occasions, tutoring, etc.
participate in a Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) training program on presenting
evidence of excellence in teaching and submit the resulting teaching portfolio by
February 5, 2024
Note: A graduate student who is nominated, but does not win, is eligible to be nominated
again in subsequent years. Graduate students who apply for and win either award are
not eligible for re-nomination for either award.
Award Process
The award process was established through careful deliberation of the Provost, the
Center for Teaching Excellence, and representative deans, faculty, and TAs. Our goals
are to establish an award that has value and recognizes quality teaching, to provide
training to TAs on how to submit a teaching award dossier, and to be equitable and
open in our award process.
Each department chair is responsible for seeing that appropriate nominations are submittedas a single PDFby to Dr.%20Erin%20Rentschler. Nominations are due by October 2, 2023.
Graduate students' nominations will be based on their roles within their departments
or programs. They will be nominated either as a Teaching Assistant or as an Instructor
of Record (see definitions above). Nominations must be made by a faculty member within
the graduate student's academic department.
TheNomination Form (Box Document) is to be completed by the chair or a faculty mentor from the TA's own academic department,
and must be signed by both the chair and dean. No other form will be considered.
The number of official nominations for each category (Teaching Assistant or Instructor
of Record) is to be determined by each school. The university-wide award guidelines
do not limit these, but nominees must meet the eligibility and selection criteria
outlined above. All official nominees who complete the training process and submit
an award dossier will receive recognition. Up to four people will receive awards,
with two potential winners in each category.
A graduate student who is nominated, but does not win, is eligible to be nominated
again in subsequent years. Graduate students who apply for and win either award are
not eligible for re-nomination for either award.
Upon receipt of the nomination letter from the department, CTE will invite the nominee
to a consultation in order to learn how to prepare a teaching portfolio that documents
the nominee's teaching successes and demonstrates how they meet the selection criteria.
Each award portfolio will contain materials demonstrating excellence in teaching that
align with the nominee's role and the award criteria. Details about the criteria for
each category of the award will be made available to all nominees during their initial
consultation with CTE.
The Award Committee will evaluate all submitted dossiers and choose the winners. Winners
will be announced in Spring 2024.
All graduate students who are officially nominated and who complete and submit a dossier
by 4pm on February 5, 2024 will receive an award certificate, a book on college teaching,
and a letter describing the process in which they participated.
The winners will receive $500, a certificate, a book on college teaching, and a letter
from Executive Vice President and Provost, Dr. David Dausey. The awards will be conferred
at the Celebration of Teaching Excellence in Spring 2024.
Nomination letters are due to CTE on October 2, 2023
CTE consultations with nominees, October 2023 - January 2024
Dossiers due to CTE by 4pm on February 5, 2024.
Awards will be conferred at the Annual Celebration of Teaching Excellence in Spring
2024
Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching 2023-2024 Committee
Committee Chair Erin Rentschler, Associate Director for Faculty Development, CTE (non-voting)
Advisors Bethany Kaser, Instructional Consultant for TAs, CTE (non-voting)
Committee Members The committee will be comprised of graduate students and faculty from across the University.
2023-2024 Committee Members include
Emily Bierer, School of Sciences and Engineering
Xia Chao, School of Education
Rachel Clark, School of Pharmacy
Alex Lipecky, School of Sciences and Engineering
Jasmin Makhlouf, McAnulty College of Liberal Arts
Kasey Stepansky, School of Health Sciences
Matthew Ussia, McAnulty College of Liberal Arts
If you have any questions, contact the Center for Teaching Excellence at 412-396-5177
or cteFREEDUQUESNE.