"Excellence in Teaching" Award

Nature of the Award
The award is given yearly by the Emory Department of Biochemistry to recognize a faculty member for excellence in teaching.

Nomination Criteria
All full-time faculty of the Department of Biochemistry (both tenure- and non-tenure-track with a primary or secondary appointment in the Department of Biochemistry) are eligible to be nominated for this award. Among the criteria taken into consideration in making the awards will be ability to motivate students and stimulate critical thinking, sustained teaching excellence and development of innovative approaches to teaching methodology and curricula. Other criteria include the instructor's mentoring of students in and out of class. The definition of "students" encompasses all forms of teaching involving faculty in the Department of Biochemistry, such as graduate, medical, post-doctoral and undergraduate teaching, laboratory mentorship, etc.

Nomination Procedure
All members of the Department of Biochemistry (faculty, students, post-doctoral fellows, etc.) can nominate faculty for this award. The nomination should be in the form of a letter to the Chair of the Selection Committee (delivered to the Biochemistry office) and should contain a summary of the nominee's teaching, including courses taught and when, teaching contributions other than coursework (seminars, mentoring of students, etc.); qualitative (and where possible, quantitative) evaluations of the quality of the teaching by the nominee; selected comments from other faculty and individual students as well as supporting letters from faculty and students (these can be from outside the Department of Biochemistry when the nature of the teaching warrants). After all the nominations have been received, the Selection Committee will request that nominees provide a copy of their most recent Teaching Portfolio.

Nominations can be made any time, but must be received no later than June 1 for consideration for that academic year.

Selection Process
The awards will be made on recommendation by a committee of faculty appointed by the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry. When possible, members of the committee will attend nominees' teaching sessions and interview nominees' students as well as review all supporting documentation. In most cases, the award will be given to a single individual, but in special circumstances, the award can be shared and/or not given if this is warranted by the number/quality of the nominees.

Presentation of the Award
The winner is presented with a letter of congratulation from the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry (copied to the Director of the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, the Dean of the School of Medicine, the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Provost of the University), a certificate and cash award ($1,000), and acknowledgement in the Department of Biochemistry Newsletter.