Excellence in Teaching Committee
Mission Statement
The Excellence in Teaching Committee will encourage, develop, and support professional enrichment opportunities for faculty at Lakeland Community College. The committee will continually review relevant research, trends, and issues and conduct activities that will promote quality teaching and learning.
Excellence in Teaching Award
Sponsored by the Lakeland Foundation
The Excellence in Teaching Award is designed to recognize two outstanding full-time and two outstanding part-time Lakeland Community College faculty members each year.
Every Spring nominations are accepted from students, alumni, faculty and staff. The nominees present a teaching philosophy, several syllabi and agree to be observed by the committee. Two first prizes are awarded - $1000 per award. The winners then serve on the subcommittee for the next two years. Watch for announcements on e-mail.
Eligibility
Any faculty member at Lakeland Community College (LCC) may be nominated
for the award. To be eligible, the nominee must not be retiring,
must have taught at least four semesters at LCC, and must not
have received the award within the past four years. The nomination
may come from any LCC faculty, staff, student, or former student.
Nomination Process
Nominations are accepted each February with deadlines
toward the end of February. For specific dates, check:
Academic & Student
Affairs Announcements / Calendar
To nominate a faculty member for this award, please submit a letter to the Excellence in Teaching Committee via Deborah Bordonaro, Secretary, in B-1054. The nomination letter should include the name and department of the nominee, and specific examples of ways in which this professor demonstrates excellence in teaching. You may also stipulate if you prefer that the professor not be made aware of who nominated him/her.
Selection Process
The following criteria will be used to determine who receives the
Excellence in Teaching Award:
1. Encourages students to do critical thinking
2. Exhibits multiple teaching strategies
3. Engages students in the learning process
4. Communicates concern regarding student learning
5. Shows enthusiasm for teaching
6. Evidences passion towards the subject
Awards
All nominees will receive a letter of acknowledgement and a certificate
of recognition. Each year, four of the nominees will be selected
to receive the award.
Each award recipient will receive:
1. An Honorarium of $1,000 for full-time and $500 for part-time
2. A plaque engraved with their name
The Faculty Challenge Grant Program
Sponsored by the Lakeland Foundation
Proposals may be submitted anytime during the academic year. However, when proposals are submitted earlier in the semester, it is more likely that funding can be approved in a timely manner.
To submit a proposal, follow these steps:
- Review the documents mentioned above in order to familiarize yourself with the goals of the program and the process involved. The Lakeland Foundation funds projects that contribute to the following:
- Improved teaching effectiveness, leading to increased student learning.
- Individual professional development, providing an opportunity for faculty to enhance effectiveness.
- Improved program quality and vitality.
- Improved institutional effectiveness, enhancing Lakeland’s ability to meet the needs of its diverse student population. - Discuss your grant ideas with others ahead of time. This can help with fine tuning and avoid revisions later in the process. You can run the ideas by any member of the Excellence in Teaching committee and/or Marilyn Jones. Also, it’s a good idea to get input from your department chair and dean. Your dean will need to recommend that your proposal be approved.
- You may submit a brief abstract by e-mail. The e-mail should be sent to Debbie Bordonaro and should include the following:
- A description of the proposed project – The description can be brief but should give the reader a good idea of why the project is needed, what it is intended to accomplish, and what activities or materials will be involved. Remember that those reviewing your proposal may not be familiar with your area of expertise, so it may be necessary to briefly explain the context.
- Funding request – To the extent possible, give a breakdown of the budget items and the total amount requested.
- Forward the e-mail to your division dean and request that he or she submit a recommendation by e-mail to Debbie Bordonaro.
- Alternatively, you may submit a full Faculty Challenge Grant application, if you prefer. The application can be found on the G drive in the “Faculty Challenge Grant” folder.
Supplemental Process for Faculty Grants
Background: For many years the Excellence in Teaching Committee and the Lakeland Foundation have worked together to review and fund faculty initiatives through the Faculty Challenge Grant Program. Grant applications are reviewed by the Excellence in Teaching (E.T.) Committee, which forwards its recommendations to the Foundation’s Projects Review Committee. The Projects Review Committee then reviews the grant proposals along with the E.T. Committee’s recommendations and makes decisions about funding.
The money for Faculty Challenge Grants is drawn from the Foundation’s unrestricted funds. Unrestricted funds come from general contributions that donors make without designating the money for a specific project. The process has worked very well, and in this current proposal the existing Faculty Challenge Grant program would continue in its current form.
New Opportunities: Increasingly, many of the Foundation’s donors prefer to direct their donations toward a specific project rather than provide undesignated funds. Opportunities may exist to match donors’ interests with specific faculty initiatives. By creating a mechanism for funding some faculty projects with designated funds, we hope to increase the number and types of grant proposals that can be funded. The process detailed on the following page would supplement and function in concert with the existing Faculty Challenge Grant Program. A few key points are:
Faculty will be able to submit e-mailed abstracts and to do so throughout the academic year. The process is designed to be user-friendly for faculty.
The Excellence in Teaching Committee will review and provide recommendations on all proposals.
Based on the criteria described on the flow chart below, proposals will become either a Faculty Challenge Grant proposal or a Direct Donor Solicitation proposal.
The Foundation Projects Review Committee will have involvement in and oversight of both programs, although it will have a greater direct role in allocating funds for the Faculty Challenge Grant program.
Teaching At Lakeland
We are looking for interesting web sites, handouts, and/or anything else you are willing to share with all that exemplify teaching at LCC.
Useful Links (Papers, Conferences, Workshops, Other Resources)
Right Click on the link to open in a new window or tab, click as normal to open in this window.
Ohio Association of Two-Year Colleges (Info & Current Conference) http://www.oatyc.org/
On Course Events and Resources: http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/
4faculty.org (http://www.4faculty.org/index.jsp) is an online professional development network of resources and learning modules designed specifically for the needs of community college faculty.
Online Resources (links to 80 valuable sites) and Teaching Tips of the Week posted at www.developfaculty.com
The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; a discussion of the science of teaching and learning and a sharing of this info with the public
Home site of the POD Network, the Professional and Organizational Development Network for Higher Education. Emphasis on faculty development
Special interest group in faculty evaluation and development of the American Educational Research Association
The Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching and learning serves a five state network (not including Ohio, but including Minn.)
Kansas State provides a student rating system for faculty evaluation, and one for faculty development, also includes IDEA papers
Maricopa's Center for Learning and Instruction focuses on instructional design, assessment and evaluation, IT and FD
Arizona State's Center for Learning and Teaching Excellence stresses learner-centered education
University of Kansas Center for Teaching Excellence
Help us out! Report new links and bad links to the committee. Thanks!
