Awards and Recognition

• Applicants must have 5 or fewer years of full-time employment at UHCL.
• Assistant Professors (including Clinical Assistant Professors) and Lecturers may apply.
• You may not be in your 6th year currently applying for Associate Professor with tenure or a Lecturer currently applying 
  for Senior Lecturer.
• Faculty who previously received an Early Career Award or a New Faculty Award are not eligible.

Faculty may self-nominate. Department Chairs may also nominate one faculty member from their department.

Nominations must include the following materials:

• Current Curriculum Vitae.
• Previous Annual Reviews (including the faculty member's submission, as well as the department chair's response).
• For tenure-track faculty post-3rd year review, please include your 3rd year review evaluation.
• Maximum 300-word essay that describes the faculty member's qualifications for the award.

Submit nomination and documentation through the CFD Nomination form.

Evaluations for each award will be based on the following activities. Applicants will be evaluated based on their job duties as indicated in the Faculty Handbook (e.g., some Lecturers are not expected to engage in research and will only be evaluated on teaching and service).

Teaching

• Evidence of effective, quality teaching:
  
  • Creates challenging and intentionally designed learning opportunities aligned to meet the rigor of academic and career knowledge and skills of the discipline;
  • Uses evidence-based instructional methods that actively engage, motivate, and inspire students to learn and become empowered lifelong critical thinkers and problem solvers;
  • Provides feedback to students that informs the learning process and fosters personal responsibility for learning;
  • Understands and uses principles of adult learning demonstrating respect and supporting all populations of students in their development;
  • Seeks and uses feedback to improve one's instructional practice.
• Educational activities outside of direct teaching (e.g., development of new curricula).

Research

• Accomplishment at UHCL in scholarly, or artistic activities which lead to the creation and dissemination of new knowledge; to increased problem-solving capabilities, including such activities as design and analysis; to original critical or historical theory and interpretation; or to the production of art or artistic performance.

Service

• Service while at UHCL to professional organizations and journals; the university, college, department, and program; the profession, and the community.

Early Career Faculty (Formerly New Faculty Awards)

Early Career Faculty (Formerly New Faculty Awards)

Early Career Faculty (Formerly New Faculty Awards)

New Faculty Awards

New Faculty Awards

• All full-time faculty are eligible to submit a research or scholarship product for consideration.
• Faculty who received the award in the past three years are not eligible. If the product is by more than one faculty member, and some have recently received the award and some have not, then those who have not recently received the award are eligible to submit.
• The product must have been published/presented within the last 3 years.
• Faculty who submitted products before but did not receive the award are eligible to submit again as long as the product has been published within the last three years.

The submission should include both the product itself and a summary of no more than 250 words describing the product and its merit for the award.

Faculty should submit their research or scholarly product related to improving higher education. Example products include, but are not limited to, journal articles, technical reports, conference proceedings, and artwork. Grants are not eligible for this award, but products arising from grants are eligible. The award is for a single product and not a group of products. The product should clearly indicate the authors, which should be the same as when published/presented even if some of the authors are not eligible for the award.

Products will be judged by an Evaluation Committee by the:

• Quality of the product
• Impact or likely impact on higher education

The goal of the Instructional Innovation Award is to stimulate a spirit of experimentation, creativity, and innovation at UHCL. The award recognizes UHCL faculty who are implementing innovative teaching practices in 
their classrooms to improve student learning. 

All UHCL faculty are eligible to apply for the award, including full-time and part-time faculty. Faculty who received the award in the previous year are not eligible to apply for an award this year. 

A submission should describe, in no more than 1000 words (not including appendices), the classroom activity or practice. It should include information and context for the activity (i.e. subject matter, number of students, level of course, etc.). Please also include any supplementary material (i.e. 
handouts, multimedia, assignments, and other pedagogical tools) in an appendix to illustrate the activity. 

Submissions will be evaluated according to:

1. Originality – uniqueness and novelty of the teaching activity.
2. Clarity – the description of the activity is clear and understandable.
3. Rationale – the reasons for the activity aligns with instructional goals and student success.
4. Effectiveness – the description conveys thought to the effectiveness of the activity, whether that is measured in student success, alignment with course instructor goals, etc. 
5. Transferability – the likelihood that other faculty would be able to use or implement the teaching activity in the classroom. 

Recipients of the award will receive $250 that can be used to support faculty development in accordance with university policies. If a submission has multiple UHCL authors, the award will be split. Winners must present at Faculty Development Week and/or the Faculty Showcase.