2013 Excellence in Teaching Award

The Excellence in Teaching Award (ETA) is a celebration of the art of teaching at Columbia College Chicago. Each year, students, faculty, and staff honor their great teachers and colleagues by nominating them for this prestigious award. 

The ETA committee, composed of both full-and part-time faculty, will identify and honor two Columbia College teachers, one part-time and one full-time. The instructors will each receive a modest monetary award and a plaque.

Beyond identifying and rewarding individual excellence in teaching, this award process provides a way for the Excellence in Teaching Awards Committee to advance a college-wide commitment to rigor and creativity in our approaches to teaching and learning.

The nomination period for the 2013 Excellence in Teaching Award has ended. Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination!

Excellent teaching at Columbia College:
Recognizing that excellence in teaching manifests itself in many different modes, styles, and voices, the Committee endorses the following five characteristics of excellent teachers (articulated here in language borrowed from Columbia's current instrument for soliciting student observations of teaching and learning.)

Excellent teachers:

1. Communicate subject matter accurately, clearly, and with enthusiasm; and they present, invite, and test multiple and balanced points of view;
2. Create communities of learners in which students can and do take intellectual risks and experiment creatively;
3. Treat all students with respect and consideration, responding appropriately to the individual needs of each student;
4. Stimulate the intellectual and/or artistic curiosity of students, fostering critical and creative thinking and problem solving;
5. Challenge, inspire, and support students to do their best work, to achieve more than might have been expected.

Eligibility:
All current full-time and part-time faculty members from all Columbia departments and programs are eligible for consideration in 2013.