Director's Teaching Prize 2012-2013
Last year a total of 83 nominations were received for 57 different members of teaching staff and 2 teaching teams. The winner of the Director’s Teaching Prize 2011-2012 was Dr Alena Rettová, Senior Lecturer in the Department of African Languages and Cultures. The Joint runners-up were Dr Harry G West, lecturer in Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Professor Robert Ash, Dr Monique Chu, Dr Dafydd Fell, Dr Hardina Ohlendorf, teaching team for the Centre of Taiwan Studies.
Establishment and purpose of the Prize
The Director’s Teaching Prize has been established in order to recognize excellence in teaching and the promotion of learning within the School. The purpose of the Prize is to stimulate teaching and teaching-related scholarly and/or creative activities, particularly at undergraduate level. The prize will be given for work undertaken at SOAS, with SOAS students. The Prize for 2012-2013 will be awarded during the Graduation Ceremony in July (exact date to be confirmed).
Eligibility
The Prize is open to any member of SOAS staff involved in supporting the student learning experience. This includes both full-time and part-time academic teaching and teaching support services. Individuals or teaching teams/teaching support teams may be nominated.
Criteria for the Prize
The following indicate the criteria against which nominations will be assessed by the Teaching Prize Committee. Nominees are not required to excel in all of these areas, but must address the relevant criteria clearly and concisely in their submission.
The Panel will be looking for evidence of success in one or more of the following, with the first of the criteria being given the most weight:
- Using innovative teaching strategies/or innovative support for student learning;
- Making high intellectual demands on students; encouraging students’ independent critical thinking and taking responsibility for their own learning;
- Meeting the needs of the diverse student population;
- Undertaking scholarly/creative work which contributes to excellence in teaching and learning (this could include new courses, learning resources, publications, AV or IT material, etc).
Value of the Prize
The value of the Prize is £1500, which can be used for personal development such as conference attendance, staff development activities or research. In addition there will be up to 5 runner’s up prizes of £100 book tokens.
Procedure
1. Nomination of an individual member of staff
An individual member of staff may nominate himself or herself for the Director’s Teaching Prize.
The nomination should be in the form of:
- a brief letter submitted to the Head of Department (academic or teaching support)
- a statement of approximately 1000 words from the nominee addressing the criteria set out above
- a curriculum vitae*.
SOAS students or fellow staff may wish to nominate an individual member of staff for the Director’s Teaching Prize. In this case they should complete a nomination form and return it to the Academic Development Directorate. If the individual agrees to be put forward, he or she should give the Head of Department a statement of approximately 1000 words addressing the criteria set out above along with a curriculum vitae*.
2. Nomination of teaching/teaching support team
A teaching team/teaching support team may nominate themselves for the Director’s Teaching Prize.
The nomination should be in the form of:
- a brief letter submitted to the Head of Department (academic or teaching support)
- a statement of approximately 1500 words from the team addressing the criteria set out above
- a curriculum vitae* for each member of the team.
SOAS students or fellow staff may wish to nominate a teaching team/teaching support team for the Director’s Teaching Prize. In this case they should complete a nomination form and return it to the Academic Development Directorate. If the team agrees to be put forward, they should give the Head of Department a statement of approximately 1500 words addressing the criteria set out above, and a curriculum vitae* for each member of the team.
The curriculum vitae should be short and contain only the following information:
- The name, job title, Department/Faculty of the individual (for team nominations, individual curriculum vitae should be provided).
- A full career record including all previous professional appointments with dates, including the date of joining SOAS.
- A summary of current teaching/teaching support commitments, and those for the previous year.
If the candidate has produced any publications which are directly relevant to teaching and pedagogical issues, these should also be listed.
3. Departmental nomination
The Head of Department should nominate not more than one member of staff (or one teaching/teaching support team) from the nominations made by departmental colleagues and students, and should forward that submission, along with a letter of recommendation, to the Academic Development Directorate.
4. Closing dates
Nomination Forms and letters, statements and curriculum vitae (where applicable) must be submitted to the Academic Development Directorate by Wednesday 13th March 2013.
Heads of Departments’ nominations should be sent to the Academic Development Directorate by Wednesday 27th March 2013.
5. Screening of nominations
Nominations will be screened by a Teaching Prize Committee, shortlist a maximum of six nominees (individuals or teams), who will give a short presentation before being interviewed. The Teaching Prize Committee will make its final recommendations to the Director on the basis of the written submission and the interview, in light of the criteria outlined above.
6. Teaching Prize Committee
The Teaching Prize Committee will consist of:
- The Pro-Director
- Three Associate Deans (Learning & Teaching)
- The Director of Academic Development
- An external member nominated by the Director
- A representative of the Students’ Union
7. Enquiries
Enquiries should be directed to the Academic Development Directorate.
