by Christopher Downs
Daily Lobo
Bessie Gallegos wants students to help her find the best instructors on campus.
"These are your instructors," said Gallegos, program director of the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Teaching and Learning. "Let us know who these great instructors are."
Students will be able to nominate their teachers for their accomplishments by Feb. 15.
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UNM student Jordan Fitzgerald said she hopes her teacher is a recipient.
"I have the best instructor I've had all through college," she said. "He deserves recognition."
Kate Krause, chairwoman of Faculty Senate, said students play a major role in nominating teachers for achievements.
"Students are perhaps in a better position to decide who struck a chord," she said. "We would really like students to let us know who is doing a good job."
The award recipients will be chosen by the Faculty Senate Teaching Enhancement committee, and the nomination process is being overseen by the center.
There will be multiple recipients for outstanding teacher, outstanding adjunct teacher and lecturer and outstanding teaching assistant. There is also a Presidential Teaching Fellowship that will be awarded to one instructor.
History professor Timothy Moy was awarded the Presidential Teaching Fellowship last year.
"It was a great honor," Moy said. "People are nominated from all across from the University. I was quite surprised when I received the award."
Moy said one of the duties of the award recipient is advising the University president on teaching matters.
Caitlin Anderson, director of the center, said it supports and administers the process by which the teachers of the year are selected.
After the nomination deadline, the Teaching Enhancement Committee will assess the nominees based on credentials supplied by the instructors and the student evaluations from ICES forms.
Teaching assistants will be selected by department chairmen and chairwomen and awarded by the Teaching Enhancement Committee.
There are multiple recipients for each award except the Presidential Teaching Fellowship, which has one award winner.
All tenured faculty are eligible for the Presidential Teaching Fellowship.
The Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award goes to tenured and tenure-track faculty. This award will go to two faculty members who foster a campus climate that supports teaching improvement and accomplishment.
Last year four instructors were selected for Outstanding Adjunct Teacher and Lecturer Award. Recipients are recognized for the contributions of nontenure-track faculty in the classroom.
Outstanding Teacher Assistant Awards reward teaching achievements of graduate students. Department chairmen and chairwomen make one nomination for every 10 department teaching assistants.
The awards will be announced May 1 and the award ceremony will be held May 3 in the SUB Ballroom.
Nominations for Teachers of the Year are being accepted and are available online at:
www.unm.edu/~castl.
