Faculty Planning Committee Named for New University-Wide Departmental Teaching Award

At its December 2015 Annual Banquet, the Teaching Academy announced establishment of a University-Wide Departmental Teaching Award to be jointly sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Teaching Academy. The endowed annual award will consist of a traveling plaque, a permanent plaque to be displayed in the department offices, and a $10,000 cash award to the winning department or interdisciplinary program. The award is intended to recognize one department each year that excels in teaching all students at all levels.

According to Provost Ashok Saxena, "Departmental faculty as a whole play an important role in ensuring success of their students. I am pleased that the university will now recognize this team effort through this new award."

The eight member planning committee, jointly appointed by the Provost's Office and the Teaching Academy, will be responsible for developing the award criteria and application guidelines and for establishing the selection process. According to Teaching Academy President Don Johnson, "We expect to issue a call for applications in fall 2016 and to make the first award in spring 2017. This is an ambitious timeline, but we have an outstanding faculty committee working on this and I am confident they will meet this goal."

The planning committee consists of:

• Paul Cronan, Information Systems
• Norm Dennis, Engineering
• Inza Fort, Health, Human Performance and Recreation
• Laurence Hare, History
• Linda Jones, World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
• Mary Beth Matthews, Law
• Mary Savin, Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences
• Nan Smith-Blair, Nursing

Ro Di Brezzo, vice provost for faculty development and enhancement, said, "The members of this committee represent some of the finest faculty on our campus. I am truly excited to work with each of them to institutionalize this teaching award for the campus."

Di Brezzo and Johnson will serve as ex officio members of the committee.

The Teaching Academy is a society committed to excellence in teaching at the University of Arkansas. It was established in 1988 by Dan Ferritor, at that time chancellor of the University of Arkansas. The academy's mission is to advocate and represent teaching interests, promote and stimulate an environment of teaching and learning excellence, and encourage recognition and reward for exceptional teaching.