Last updated: 10/27/2005

Ad-Hoc Committee Report

The Lincoln University Board of Trustees Distinguished Faculty Award

The Award Criteria

The Henry Cornwell Distinguished Teaching Award will be given to those full time faculty members who demonstrate excellence and distinction in teaching.  Award candidates must show superior command of subject and their portfolios must include but not be limited to the evidence from the following:

• Student evaluation summary sheets (for at least three years prior to consideration fro award at Lincoln University)
• Reference letters from former students (at least two)
• Peer evaluation/ reference letters (at least two)
• Self-evaluation letter

The Hildrus S. Poindexter Distinguished Research Award will be awarded to those full-time faculty members who demonstrate excellence and distinction in research.  Award candidates' portfolios must include but not be limited to evidence from the following:

• Published peer-reviewed papers or other scholarly and creative works or outstanding grants received or one published text book in the nominee's primary discipline (in lieu of a text book, at least two papers or equivalents in the three years prior to the time of consideration for award at Lincoln University)
• Self-evaluation letter
• Peer evaluation/ reference letters (at least two)
• Outside peer reference letter (at least one)

The Soraya M. Coley Distinguished Service Awardwill be awarded to those full-time faculty members who demonstrate excellence in service to the university as well as the community.  Award candidates' portfolios must include but not be limited to evidence from the following:

• Service on committees (includes Standing, Ad-Hoc, Departments', etc.) at Lincoln University with detailed explanation of the role and contributions made (at least two committees and for at least the prior three years)
• Peer evaluation/ reference letters (at least two)
• Self-evaluation letter
• Service to the community or Outside reference letter (at least one)

General Faculty Award Procedures

Step 1: Selection of the Schools' Preliminary Screening Committees

• The dean of each School shall name one faculty member and one outstanding senior student from its School. 
• The faculty member's name will be chosen alphabetically on a rotational basis from the division's faculty list to serve for one year and the chosen faculty member will not be eligible for nomination in that year.  The refusal to serve will make a faculty member ineligible to be nominated for any future award(s). On the positive side serving on this committee will enhance someone's portfolio! 
• One outstanding senior student's in the School with a high GPA (to be chosen from the Honors program's list obtained from the Honors Director). 
• In case that a faculty from the graduate school is nominated, a graduate student will be invited to serve on the preliminary committee.

Deadline for the selection of the schools' preliminary screening committees and distribution of the nomination forms along with the established award criteria:  __First Divisional meeting (November School meeting for 2005)

Step 2: Creation of the Evaluation Process

• The dean of each school, the one selected faculty member, and one outstanding senior student from each school will meet to develop/ discuss the assessment techniques for their school. These assessment methods will be used in step 4, to measure the nominee's qualifications against the established award criteria quantitatively and/ or qualitatively when appropriate. 
• After the first year, the work done in this step may be updated/ fine-tuned by the future panel members.

Deadline for the creation/ update of the assessment techniques: December 15 (may be extended for 2005)

Step 3: Nomination

• All full-time faculty members who can meet the award criteria may be nominated by their peers or can self-nominate. 
• Nomination forms must be signed and forwarded to the nominees' respective schools' deans by the due date. 
• A faculty member who receives the award in a given category may not be nominated for the same award again, but may be nominated for a different award after three years.  

Deadline for the submission of nomination forms: December 31

Deadline for the submission of all the supporting materials:  January 31

Step 4: Selection of the Top Candidates for Awards from Each School

• The preliminary screening committee from each school will meet to examine nominees' portfolios in each award category against the established evaluative criteria utilizing assessment techniques developed in step 2.  At this stage, each school will invite the faculty representatives from the other two cognate schools to participate in their meetings as non-voting members.

Note:  To accommodate faculty's busy schedule, for this step the three schools may wish to have a joint meeting in lieu of three separate meetings.  In that case, the combined panels must conduct their selection work one school at a time.

• The committee from a given school will then submit a maximum of one faculty name for each award per year to the office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.  This means the portfolios of a maximum of nine nominees (three in each award category from each school) may be submitted to the office of the VP.

Deadline for the preliminary screening committees from each school, to make their selections:  February 28

Step 5:  Final Selection of Awardees

• The VP will call for a meeting together with the three preliminary screening committee faculty members (selected in step 1), and one new outstanding senior student.
• One new outstanding senior student's name with the highest GPA will be chosen from the Honors program's student list.   
• An additional student may be included as alternate.
• Thefour-member panel will vote for the nominees in each award category using secret ballots (provided by the office of the VP).
• The Vice President for Academic Affairs may vote in case of a tie.  
• Once the final selection is made for each award, the names of the prospective awardees (maximum of three) would be forwarded to the office of the President for approval.
• The three awardees will be informed of their selection during the commencement ceremony.

Deadline for the panel to examine the portfolios ahead of time:March 15

Deadline for the meeting of the student(s), screening committees and the VP to take place: March 31

DISTINGUISHED FACULTY AWARD NOMINATION FORM

Name of Candidate for Award:_________________________________________

Rank:____________________________________

Department: ______________________________________________

Name of Award_____________________________________________

Name of previous award received and year of award:___________________________

Nomination by:________________________________________________________

Signature of Candidate for Award*:__________________________________________

*With this signature, I accept nomination for the award and agree to submit required supporting materials (attached herewith) by the stipulated deadline.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

Submission of Nomination Form: December 31, 2005

Submission of Candidate’s Portfolio: January 31, 2006