Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:
I write to invite you to nominate faculty for the 20th annual Presidential Awards to honor great teaching at our University. The awards are designed to recognize teaching excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and, in particular, to honor faculty who have had a truly lasting influence on the intellectual development of our students.
All full-time Columbia faculty are eligible, as are part-time faculty with a significant relationship to one of the teaching programs of our schools. Excluded from consideration are faculty who have retired and student officers whose contributions to our educational programs are recognized with a separate graduate student teaching award. President Bollinger will confer five awards, each of which will carry a prize of $20,000, at the Commencement Exercise in May. A list of the distinguished faculty who have already received the awards may be found at www.columbia.edu/cu/vpaa/teach.
You may nominate more than one faculty member for the awards. You may also re-nominate candidates you proposed in prior years who did not receive an award.
You may submit your nominations online at www.teachingawards.provost.columbia.edu. The deadline for nominations this year is February 6, 2015.
A faculty selection committee will select a group of finalists from the nominations received and ask the finalists’ departments or schools to assemble a full dossier of supporting materials. Following a review of those materials, the committee will choose the faculty it believes best exemplify the ideal of the great teacher, and forward their nominations to the President for his approval.
I thank you in advance for your nominations, and your help in recognizing the importance of outstanding teaching for our institution and students.
Sincerely,
John Coatsworth
Provost
