Trustees' Teaching Award

All tenured and tenure-track faculty, full-time lecturers, and clinical faculty (whose primary duty is teaching) who have taught at Indiana University South Bend for a minimum of two years are eligible. Individuals who have received a TTA award in previous years are eligible to reapply; however, faculty members are eligible to receive a TTA no more than once in a three-year period (IU Handbook). Faculty members are not eligible to apply for the TTA while they are serving on the campus-level selection committee (Senate resolution, March 26, 2010). Candidates do not need to be nominated for this award; self-nominations are acceptable. It is the candidate's responsibility to compile the completed application and submit it to his or her College or School contact by March 1.

The entire application should be prefaced by the TTA Cover Sheet and contain no more than 10 pages (in 10-point type or larger), exclusive of the Appendix in (5) below. The Cover Sheet and Appendix does not count towards the 10-page limit (see below).

Applications should be submitted as a single PDF file (including the TTA cover sheet) to the appropriate College or School contact by March 1.  Each College or School TTA committee will send all of the applications and their recommendations to the Chair of the Senate Teaching Committee by March 24.

To present a convincing case of excellent teaching, the applicant is required to submit evidence from each area described below. Area 4 is optional. The combined total from areas 1, 2, 3, and 4 must not exceed 10 pages. The Appendix does not count as part of the 10-page limit (see below).

Please provide the following in this order in a single PDF file. All pages of the main application should be clearly enumerated (pages 1 through 10) and the beginning of the appendix should be clearly specified. All materials within the dossier should focus on the past three years. However, on the cover page, please include all teaching awards received.

1. Teaching Statement | A reflective teaching statement that describes the applicant's teaching philosophy, teaching context, and highlights recent teaching accomplishments, such as course and curriculum design and innovative pedagogies. The applicant should use this statement to make the case for sustained and consistent excellence in teaching. (Similar to the teaching statement for promotion dossiers.)  This statement is limited to 3 pages.
2. Summary of Teaching Accomplishments from the past 3 years: 
   • Courses taught with enrollments
   • Teaching-related publications and/or presentations
   • Teaching awards
   • Teaching grants (briefly describe purpose of grant)
   • Course development
   • Teaching innovations/curriculum design
   • Teaching-related service (briefly describe role)
3. Peer Review | A letter from a peer who has had direct classroom observation or reviewed course materials. The reviewer should include in their letter the date of classroom observation or time period in which they reviewed course materials. This letter is limited to 2 pages.
4. Additional Documentation the applicant might also include. This section is limited to 3 pages.
   • Unsolicited student comments
   • Information on student learning outcomes
   • Evidence of teaching rigor
   • Information about course development or curriculum initiatives
   • Attendance at workshops, seminars, or conferences related to teaching
   • Additional letters from peers who have had direct classroom observation or reviewed course materials of the candidate
   • Student work samples
   • Quality of advising and/or mentoring of students outside of classes taught
   • Any additional information related to teaching
5. Appendix
   • Summary of student evaluations and comments (no more than 2 pages). See below for an example of how to organize a table for quantitative evaluation questions. Please include brief commentary on trends that you see as important in your evaluations and how student feedback has informed your teaching.
   • All IU South Bend student evaluations and comments from courses taught during the past three years.

     • If you are applying in the spring of your third year, submit all IU South Bend student evaluations and comments from courses taught since you have been at IU South Bend.

     • Given the ongoing disruptions caused by COVID-19, course questionnaire results from Spring, Summer and Fall 2020 semester courses shall not be required to be reported beyond the level of the individual instructor. Not submitting the results shall not affect instructors negatively during their annual and other campus reviews (e.g., PT&R and awards).

   • The appendix should follow the order of Summary of Teaching Evaluations, short reflection, complete student evaluations.
   • No other materials may be included in the appendix.

   Example for Summarizing Student Evaluations into Table: | The summary table of evaluations could be organized by semester, organized by course, organized by level of course (introductory level, upper level, graduate level).   TABLE  

1. The faculty in each College or School, including the Library, will select a TTA committee (consisting of a minimum of three members and a maximum of five members, from tenured and tenure-track faculty, full-time lecturers, and clinical faculty) to screen the faculty applicants for the TTA. Any College or School with fewer than six full-time faculty members may invite full-time faculty from another College or School to serve on its committee. Applications will be recommended as "high distinction," "good," "acceptable," and "not acceptable" by the College or School committee. The College or School committee will then forward all of the applications and send a list of applicant names and committee recommendation designation to the Chair of the campus-wide committee, the Academic Senate Teaching Committee.
2. The Academic Senate Teaching Committee will serve as the final selection committee. A majority of the members of the campus-level TTA selection committee must have received a school, college, campus, or university teaching award (Senate resolution, March 26, 2010).

1. The amount of the award will be determined by the Trustees. Academic Affairs will announce the amount on this site when it is available. Seven percent of the faculty will be eligible to receive the award each year.
2. Academic Senate Teaching Committee selections are to be submitted to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs by April 15. The Office of Academic Affairs will ensure that the TTA awards are made before the end of the fiscal year. The Office of Academic Affairs will keep track of the TTA recipients each year and will provide the Board of Trustees and others as needed with a list of the TTA recipients.
3. The TTA should not be given in lieu of regular, merit based salary increases. The TTA is not part of the recipient's base salary.