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Trustees' Teaching Award

Each year, the Indiana University Board of Trustees recognizes faculty excellence in teaching through a program known as the Trustees’ Teaching Awards. Excellence in teaching is the primary factor for selection. 

An instructor teaches medical students during a lab exercise.

Award recognition

The Indiana University Board of Trustees determines the number of awards to be given each year based on the current number of tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty in the school. The number of awards allocated to the IU School of Medicine changes each year.

Award recipients:

  • Receive a monetary award of $2,500

  • Are highlighted on this page of the Faculty Affairs and Professional Development (FAPD) website

  • Are recognized at the spring IU School of Medicine All-School Meeting

Nominate a candidate

Nominations are open Nov. 1 through Jan. 9. Winners will be announced at the spring All-School Meeting.

Criteria for selection

Use of effective, active and engaging teaching strategies 
Strong candidates will regularly and extensively incorporate activities that meaningfully engage learners. 

Learner-centered approach
Strong candidates demonstrate their belief that people learn differently and that they play an important role in learning; they are not passive listeners. 

Inclusion 
Strong candidates create an inclusive and equitable learning environment. 

Passion for teaching and learning 
Strong candidates communicate excitement and enthusiasm for teaching and learning. 

Eligibility

Nominees must:

  • Receive a paycheck either:

    • For your full-time or dually employed position as an IU School of Medicine tenured, tenure-track, clinical, lecturer or librarian faculty member

    • For your full-time employed position with an IU School of Medicine affiliate physician practice plan (i.e., Eskenazi Medical Group, Richard L. Roudebush Veterans' Administration Medical Center or IU Health Medical Group)

    • For your full-time employed position with an IU School of Medicine regional campus host institution (i.e., Purdue, Ball State, Notre Dame or University of Southern Indiana)

  • Perform a role that includes teaching as a primary duty

  • Be in good standing

  • Have demonstrated sustained teaching excellence

  • Have completed at least three years of service at IU School of Medicine

  • Not have received the Trustees' Teaching Award in the two years prior to the current cycle

Nominations

  • Faculty Affairs and Professional Development (FAPD) issues a call for nominations each fall and oversees the nomination process.

  • Faculty, students, residents, fellows, postdocs and staff members can submit nominations.

  • Nominators are asked to submit a short paragraph that addresses the extent to which and how the faculty member meets the award criteria.

Selection

At the conclusion of the nomination process, FAPD provides nomination materials for all eligible nominees to the IU School of Medicine Teaching Awards Committee. This committee reviews all nominations and selects awardees. 

This is a competitive award process, and the committee is limited to a number of awardees that is dictated by the university trustees.

When selecting awardees:

  • The committee gives the strongest consideration to nominations that:

    • Speak directly to the criteria

    • Come directly from learners or have a strong learner voice

    • Are for individuals who have not previously received the Trustees' Teaching Award

  • Faculty members with multiple nominations are more likely to receive the award than those with a single nomination or a nomination that does not include testimony from learners.

  • To recognize good teaching around the school, the committee considers each nominee's department and campus.

  • The committee will not use numerical summaries in learning evaluations as a primary source for evaluating teaching and determining award eligibility.

    • This is dictated by ACA-80, the policy regarding the Trustees' Teaching Award.

    • Instead, qualitative feedback from learners and colleagues that speaks to the criteria is used to determine who will receive an award.

Timeline

Fall/early winter

Nominations open:
Nov. 1 through Jan. 9

   

Mid-winter

Winners are notified.

    

Spring

Awardees are announced at the All-School Meeting.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the Trustees' Teaching Award, contact Faculty Affairs and Professional Development.

View lists of previous winners

In 2024, 57 faculty members from IU School of Medicine received the Trustees' Teaching Award!

 

At right, Dean Jay Hess congratulates recipients of the 2024 Trustees' Teaching Awards during the spring All-School Meeting.

Dean Jay Hess congratulates recipients of the Trustees' Teaching Awards during the Spring 2024 All School Meeting.