Utah Valley University
Provost's Awards

The Annual Provost's Awards recognize faculty and academic staff who demonstrate excellence in their area of expertise. Annually, the Provost selects recipients who meet specific criteria related to student success, outstanding teaching, innovation, and student support in ways that advances the mission of Utah Valley University.

2024 Award Recipients

Award Recipients
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Award Nomination Information

Academic Innovation Award

Purpose 

This award recognizes and encourages academic innovation to help UVU students succeed through increasing retention and completion rates, in-career job placement, decreasing time to completion, and boosting diversity.

  • UVU Innovative Pedagogy Individual Award
  • UVU Innovative Pedagogy Group Award
  • UVU Innovative External Collaboration Individual Award
  • UVU Innovative External Collaboration Group Award

 

Eligibility Criteria 

  • Open to all UVU full-time faculty, adjuncts, and staff in the Academic Affairs division.
  • Groups may include any combination of FT faculty, adjuncts, and staff (at least one must group member must be in AA)
  • The initiative for which the nominee is recommended was started within the last three years.

 

Nomination Process 

Anyone in Academic Affairs can nominate themselves or their team, or another individual or team, for this award. 

Nominees shall submit a letter (3-page maximum) describing the initiative and how it fulfills the specific evaluation criteria. The semester(s)/date(s) of the initiative should also be included.

Group award nominations shall include each member’s name, their department, and their role in the initiative.

For Submission

  • Fill out Cover Sheet
  • Attach Nomination Letter (3-page maximum) describing the initiative and how it fulfills the specific evaluation criteria. The semester(s)/date(s) of the initiative should also be included.
    • Group award nominations shall include each member’s name, their department, and their role in the initiative.

 

Selection Criteria 

The awards will be given based on initiatives or interventions that have been developed and implemented to provide innovative pedagogy, opportunities that connect students with the community, engagement with potential employers, etc.

Nominees will be evaluated on the following criteria.  Competitive initiatives may not include every aspect of the criteria. 

  • Ingenuity
  • Large number of students impacted and potential scalability
  • Focus on underrepresented student populations or a specific population that is underrepresented in the discipline
  • Strong assessment methodology such as pre- and post- surveys, retention data, pass rates, etc.
  • Overcoming challenges and lessons learned
  • Interdisciplinarity (this will generally only apply to group awards).
  • Specific indicators of success

Additional criteria for External Partner Awards:

  • External partner impact on students
  • Student impact on eternal partners

BIPOC Academic Excellence Award

Purpose 

This award is presented to a member of the UVU faculty who identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color (BIPOC). The award recognizes contributions to academic excellence through teaching, scholarship, service, and leadership that has a significant impact on the university. 

 

Eligibility Criteria 

  • Must hold current full-time faculty status: lecturer (including Professionals in Residence), associate professor, or full professor. 
  • Must identify as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color. 

 

Nomination Process  

Any UVU employee may nominate a UVU faculty member who meets the criteria. The committee will review each nomination and will recommend one recipient to the Provost, who will make the final decision.  

For Submission

  • Fill out Cover Sheet
  • Attach nominee's CV
  • Attach Nomination Letter (no self-nominations) – Specifically how the nominee fits the criteria with examples. 

 

Selection Criteria  

The committee will evaluate nominations, looking for some of the following:  

  • The nominee has evidence of service at UVU and in the local community. 
  • The nominee has evidence of significant achievements over time in scholarship or creative works. 
  • The nominee has provided unique and engaging learning opportunities, or other activities beyond the traditional classroom experience. 
  • The nominee has provided evidence to demonstrate excellence in leadership. 

Distinguished Teaching Award

Purpose 

As part of the Academic Affairs recognition strategy, this award recognizes members of the UVU faculty with a long-standing track record of teaching (10+ cumulative years) at UVU. This is a prestigious, “lifetime achievement” award. The focus is on teaching only. The award can be obtained by a faculty member only once.  

 

Eligibility Criteria 

  • Must hold current full-time faculty status: lecturer (including Professionals in Residence), associate professor, or full professor. 
  • At the time of nomination, must be teaching a minimum average of 12 ICHE per semester. Exceptions will be made for those in schools and colleges where teaching load is dictated by accreditation requirements, such as WSB and some departments in CET that are required to teach an average of 9 ICHE per semester. There may be other exceptions. 
  • Must have a minimum of cumulative 10 years of full-time teaching at UVU in both upper and lower division and in a diverse range of classes. 

 

Nomination Process  

Department chairs may nominate faculty members that meet the criteria and forward them to the Dean by the due date each year. The Dean of each school or college may forward one nomination each year to the committee for consideration. Faculty may not self-nominate. The committee will review each nomination and will recommend one recipient to the Provost, who will make the final decision. Candidates not selected may be re-nominated in future years. 

For Submission

  • Fill out Cover Sheet
  • Attach nominee's CV
  • Attach Nomination Letter (no self-nominations) – Specifically how the nominee fits the criteria with examples. 
  • Dean will attach a letter of support with specifics as to why this candidate represents the school or college in this award. 

 

Selection Criteria  

The committee will evaluate nominations, looking for some of the following (these are examples, not an exhaustive list): 

  • The nominee has developed rigorous and supportive classroom experiences as evidenced by curriculum. 
  • The nominee has created an inclusive classroom environment as evidenced by curricular design or redesign. 
  • The nominee has demonstrated the effective use of technology, including Canvas and other relevant technologies. 
  • The nominee has demonstrated teaching excellence across the range of curriculum levels from 1000 (including general education classes) to 4000 level classes as well as the range of student skill levels. 
  • The nominee has demonstrated teaching excellence across a broad range of modalities, course sizes, and flexibility of offerings. 
  • The nominee has demonstrated that they keep the curriculum relevant as demonstrated by updates to the curriculum – e.g. new technology sociological changes  
  • The nominee has evidence of impact on students beyond grading. 
  • The nominee has provided unique learning experiences, engaged learning opportunities, or other activities beyond the traditional classroom experience. 
  • The nominee has won an external teaching award. 
  • The nominee has demonstrated significant efforts to improve their own teaching through professional development opportunities and can provide evidence about how they have implemented this learning. 
  • The nominee has evidence of student appreciation and understanding of the course objectives and teaching methods (through SRIs, etc.)  
  • The nominee can provide any other relevant material to demonstrate excellence in teaching.

General Education Advocacy Award

Purpose 

This award recognizes the role of UVU General Education in student success and rewards faculty and staff for their advocacy with students and others about the importance of General Education.

 

Eligibility 

  • Any UVU faculty member, including adjuncts 
  • Any staff member in the Academic Affairs division  

 

Nomination Process  

Members of the Academic Affairs Council (AAC) may nominate one faculty and one staff member and forward them to the committee by the due date each year. Faculty and staff may not self-nominate. The AAC member will send a maximum one-page letter to the committee detailing how the nominee meets the criteria. The committee will review each application and recommend outstanding nominees to the Provost, who will make the final decision. 

For Submission

  • Fill out Cover Sheet
  •  Members of AAC will attach Nomination Letter (no self-nominations) – Specifically how the nominee fits the criteria with examples. 

 

Selection Criteria 

The committee will review nominations looking for evidence and examples of how the nominee has acted as an advocate for General Education outside of a classroom setting through promotion or advocacy in a way that makes students appreciate the importance of the GE curriculum to their success in work and life. 

 

General Education Teaching Award

Purpose 

This award recognizes the importance of General Education in student success and rewards faculty and staff who bring outstanding effort, energy, and creativity to GE classes.  

 

Eligibility Criteria 

The following groups are eligible for this award if they have taught at least five sections in a GE class. There are separate awards for each group.  

  • Full-time faculty 
  • Adjunct faculty 
  • UVU Staff Adjunct Faculty 

 

Nomination Process  

Department chairs may nominate one faculty member in each category with their Dean’s approval and forward it to the committee by the due date each year. Faculty may not self-nominate. The department chair will send a maximum one-page letter to the committee detailing how the nominee meets the criteria. The committee will review each application and recommend a few outstanding nominees to the Provost, who will make the final decision.

For Submission

  • Fill out Cover Sheet
  •  Department Chairs will attach Nomination Letter (no self-nominations) – Specifically how the nominee fits the criteria with examples. 

 

Selection Criteria 

The committee will evaluate nominations, looking for examples and evidence of how the nominee has brought outstanding effort, energy, and creativity to the GE classes they teach.

Provost's Awards of Excellence

Purpose 

This award is given to exceptional UVU employees in the Division of Academic Affairs who are acknowledged by their leaders and peers to be outstanding in their profession. Recipients of this award embody exemplary character traits and work ethics and demonstrate excellence in furthering the mission of the University through innovation, creativity, service, dedication, leadership, efficiency, exceptional performance, contribution to the University, effectiveness, or inclusion within Utah Valley University. 

 

Eligibility Criteria 

  • Nominees must be full-time staff employed in the UVU Division of Academic Affairs full-time for at least one year at the time of nomination. 
  • Nominees cannot be the recipient of a university or division level award in the last three years. 

 

Nomination Process  

The criteria for the Provost's Awards of Excellence will be based on the Staff Competencies.  Each nomination should include a paragraph detailing how the potential recipient met or exceeded expectations for each of the six competencies over the last year.  Each nomination will be reviewed by a committee which will determine the final recipient(s). Candidates not selected may be re-nominated in future years. 

For Submission

  • Fill out Cover Sheet
  • Attach Nomination Letter (no self-nominations) - should include a paragraph detailing how the potential recipient met or exceeded expectations for each of the six competencies over the last year.

 

Selection Criteria  

The committee will evaluate nominations, looking for the following (these are examples, not an exhaustive list):  

  • Evidence of how the nominee met or exceeded expectations for each of the six competencies and core values of Exceptional Care, Exceptional Accountability, and Exceptional Results over the last year 
  • Evidence of how the nominee made an outstanding contribution to the achievement of UVU’s mission through innovation, creativity, service, dedication, leadership, efficiency, exceptional performance, contribution to the University, effectiveness, or inclusion within Utah Valley University. 

To be eligible for any award, nominated employees need to have exited their introductory period and be in good standing with the university, e.g. not on probation.

Nomination
TIMELINE

 

Dec 4, 2023

Nominations Open

 

Jan 10, 2024

Due to Dean

(Distinguished Teaching)

Jan 19, 2024

Due to Provost's Office

 

Nomination Procedure

To nominate a colleague for an Award:

  • Open the corresponding AdobeSign (linked below)
  • Fill out the Cover Sheet
  • Attached required documents
  • Submit

Professor teaching a class

Please direct questions about the Provost's Awards of Excellence to Victoria Hopkinson (x8048, victoria.hopkinson@uvu.edu)