Trustees' Teaching Award
ACA-80
About This Policy
- Effective Date:
- 02-23-2001
- Date of Last Review/Update:
- 06-26-2025
- Responsible University Office:
- Academic Leadership Council Executive Committee
- Responsible University Administrator:
- Academic Leadership Council Executive Committee
- Policy Contact:
Academic Leadership Council Executive Committee
- Policy Feedback:
- If you have comments or questions about this policy, let us know with the policy feedback form.
Scope
All Indiana University campuses.
A foundational principle of Indiana University is its enduring partnership across its units, including faculty, to collectively advance the institution's mission. The establishment, revision, and retirement of academic policies will occur with consultation and input from the University Faculty Council.
Policy Statement
- The Teaching Excellence Recognition Award (TERA) is abolished.
- The Trustees’ Teaching Award is hereby established.
- The Trustees’ Teaching Award shall be awarded before the completion of each academic year, beginning with 2000–2001, to the following:
- tenured and tenure-track faculty, and
- full-time lecturer and clinical faculty whose primary duty is teaching,
who have demonstrated that they are the best teachers.
- The recipients of the award shall receive the sum of $2,500.00.
- Winners of the Trustees’ Teaching Award are eligible to receive the award in subsequent years, however, to induce broader participation, there is a waiting period of 2 years before awardees are again eligible.
- The chancellor/provost of each campus, after consulting with elected faculty representatives, shall:
- Determine whether the awards shall be given at the campus level by schools.
- Establish rules so that the method of selecting the winners is fair. Because numerical summaries in student course evaluations may reflect cultural biases, and low participation rates may skew results, numerical ratings should not be used as the primary source of data for evaluating teaching. The evaluation of teaching shall include qualitative student feedback and other sources of information.
- Disseminate widely the availability of the award and the criteria for selection.
- Provide a means to recognize the winners, which shall, at a minimum, include a permanent plaque.
- The money heretofore dedicated to the TERA awards is now dedicated to fund the Trustees’ Teaching Award on each campus for six percent (6%) of tenured and tenure-track faculty and six percent (6%) of full-time lecturer and clinical faculty whose primary duty is teaching, with the balance of the TERA money dedicated to provide base-budget support to FA.
- The Trustees' Teaching Award honors outstanding teaching during the previous academic year. Awardees and review committees (e.g., P&T committees) should not construe that a Trustees' Teaching Award is sufficient evidence of sustained teaching excellence. Rather, a Trustees' Teaching Award represents one piece of evidence to include in the teaching section of a promotion and tenure or promotion dossier.