Greetings from the Tyson Alumni House!

 

Each year the University of Tennessee Alumni Association (UTAA) funds four (4) Alumni Outstanding Teacher (AOT) Awards that are selected by the Knoxville Campus Alumni Awards Committee.  These awards, which recognize excellence in the classroom, are part of the association’s continuing effort to encourage resourceful and creative instruction and to publicly recognize exceptional teaching, especially the teaching of undergraduates. Recipients of the Alumni Outstanding Teacher award will receive a $1,000 cash reward and will be publically recognized at the UT Chancellor’s Honors Banquet in the spring.

 

The Nomination Process:

 

• The nomination process is now open and will run through December 1, 2014
• Students, faculty, alumni, and college administrators are encouraged to submit nominations
• Nominations may be made online at www.volsconnect.com\2015teacher

 

Criteria for Eligibility:

 

• Recipients must have a minimum of three years of full-time service
• Academic rank is not a factor, although graduate teaching assistants are not eligible
• Faculty who are being considered for tenure during the academic year are ineligible
• Recipients must be full-time members of the faculty and must be currently functioning in a teaching capacity at least 50 percent of the time and must be available spring semester for “in the classroom” observations by the AOT Selection Committee
• UTAA Distinguished Professors are ineligible
• Recipients of the AOT Award in the past five years are ineligible

(The eligibility requirements for nominees will be verified by Human Resources)

 

Selection Process

 

Following the December 1 deadline and eligibility verification, selection will be made by the Alumni Outstanding Teacher Selection Committee.  The Committee is comprised of three (3) AOT recipients who have received the award during the previous five years and are, therefore, currently ineligible to be selected; three (3) alumni selected by the alumni office; and three (3) students.

 

The AOT Selection Committee will use all nominations submitted by students, alumni and college administrators as the basis for narrowing the number of nominees to a maximum of 10 finalists.  The chairman of the committee will notify each finalist and request the following information:

 

• Resume
• Student evaluations from recent courses
• Spring class schedule for classroom observation by committee members
• Curriculum vitae
• Philosophy of teaching “essay”

 

Four (4) outstanding teachers are named winners based on classroom observations and material in the finalists’ files.  The committee chairman will send a letter to the Chancellor with the names of the four winners.  Public announcement of the AOT winners will be made at the UT Chancellor’s Honors Banquet in the spring.

 

We appreciate your participation in this important program. Feel free to share this information with your colleagues and students in your college.  If you have any questions, please contact me at 974-6507.

 

Thank you and Go Vols!

 

 

Gina

 

 

 

 

Gina Clark ’08, ‘13

Director for the Center of Student Alumni Programs

 

Tyson Alumni House
1609 Melrose Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37996
Direct Line:  (865) 974-6507

Email:  [log in to unmask]              

Web:  volsconnect.com