Faculty Association	October 1, 1998 Approved on 10/12/98

UNF Teaching Incentive Program Proposal
1998-1999

I. PREAMBLE

The State University System and the University of North Florida desire to provide recognition for those faculty who perform meritoriously in teaching. To that end, the Legislature has made appropriations for teaching incentive awards to be given in the 1998-99 academic year in recognition of excellence in teaching achieved during the three-year period of 1995/1996 --1997/98.

Excellence in teaching at UNF manifests itself in five essential ways:

1. outstanding teachers bring an enthusiasm and a knowledge of the subject matter to students;

2. outstanding teachers have high expectations for student achievement and have a strong desire to teach well;

3. outstanding teachers encourage students to be active learners;

4. outstanding teachers have a sensitivity for the challenges that are inherent in learning, a willingness to listen and a responsiveness to differing student views and perspectives;

5. outstanding teachers are creative in trying new techniques, developing new subject matter and thinking uncommon thoughts about the processes of teaching and learning.

The goal is for students to develop a specific mastery in both form and content and to move beyond current studies to higher levels of insight and inquiry in a chosen field.

II. GUIDELINES FOR ALLOCATION OF AWARDS

Teaching incentive awards will be presented at UNF as follows:

1. Award recipients will receive a $5,000 increase in base salary rate, whether on a nine- or twelve-month appointment, retroactive to the beginning of the employee's 1998-99 employment contract.

2. In distributing these salary increase funds, up to 20% of the current year awards may be granted to faculty members whose teaching was solely at the graduate level. This does not mean that 20% of the awards will go to graduate teaching, it merely recognizes that graduate teachers are eligible and that a limit of 20% of the awards may be used for that purpose. Such candidates will receive the same consideration as all other faculty in the eligibility pool.

III. ELIGIBILITY AND PROCESS FOR SOLICITING NOMINATIONS

To be considered eligible, the candidate must meet the following criteria:

1. Eligible faculty must be employed full-time, on 9- or 12-month, tenured or tenure-earning assignments, and must be appointed to the ranks of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor. The following are also eligible: full-time nine- and twelve-month employees who are appointed to ranks which are equivalent to professor, associate professor, and assistant professor (i.e. librarian/curator series, scholar/scientist series and engineer series) and the ranks of instructor and lecturer.

2. Eligible employees must have a continuing commitment to, and emphasis on, classroom instruction, and have substantial teaching commitment during the past three academic years (1995-96 through 1997-1998). The definition of substantial commitment may vary among colleges/schools/departments; however, in general, it shall be based upon an employee's assignment in classroom and/or laboratory instruction.

3. Candidates for awards must demonstrate teaching productivity over the last six academic semesters (fall and spring for nine month employees) or last nine terms (fall, spring, and summer for twelve month employees). Teaching productivity includes meeting department and/or college means and/or medians in one or more of the following measures : the number of instructional contact hours, number of courses, and number of student credit hours generated. The application of these criteria will take into consideration differences in course delivery and preparation, and make provision for a balance between larger and smaller classes. Directed independent studies, supervised research, and thesis/dissertation research shall be included toward meeting the eligibility requirements.

4. Individuals who were officially on sabbatical leave, faculty development leaves, or on special assignment during the three-year period may substitute data from a semester(s) or term(s) prior to the three-year period in consideration of the lack of data for the semester(s) or term(s) when the individual was on sabbatical or professional development leave, or special assignment.

5. No faculty member shall receive this award more than once every four years. 1995-96 through 1997-98 award recipients are ineligible for an award this year.

6. It is the responsibility of the Department Chair or the next level academic administrator to determine whether each faculty member meets the eligibility requirements and to forward the names of eligible faculty members to the Office of Academic Affairs for final verification.

IV. SELF-NOMINATION PACKET

The Office of Academic Affairs shall prepare a list of faculty eligible for the award, in accordance with the criteria defined above. Each faculty member on the list will be notified of their eligibility and invited to submit a self-nomination packet which shall include:

1. a signed statement by the faculty member attesting to the accuracy of the information included in the packet and a stipulation on the part of the Chair that the material is consistent with the chair's knowledge of the faculty member's teaching performance (see attached form, "Statements of Accuracy").

2. the "Executive Summary" or "Abstract" of the faculty member's teaching performance over the past three years. Faculty may include any information they deem appropriate, but may not exceed one page.

3. a discussion (maximum of two [2] pages) of the faculty member's teaching philosophy as exemplified by his/her most significant teaching accomplishments. Significant teaching accomplishments should be documented. The nominee may also include a discussion of scholarly accomplishments and/or service activities that directly relate to teaching.

4. documentation of teaching accomplishments, not to exceed three (3) pages and to include the following:
   1. a list of each section of courses taught at UNF for the past three academic years to include: semester taught, descriptive title, and the type of course (lecture, seminar, laboratory, studio, practicum, directed individual study);

   2. description of the design of one of the courses from the list above, as well as an explanation of how students were evaluated and graded in that course;

   3. a description of the means by which the faculty member evaluated her/his teaching, such as survey instruments, peer evaluations, questionnaires, in-class visitations, observations and interviews;

   4. a summary of the formal feedback that the faculty member has received from students, academic colleagues, alumni and others concerning the quality and effectiveness of his/her teaching;

   5. a description of the actions taken by the faculty member in response to the feedback described above;

   6. a description of innovations, new techniques, and uncommon approaches attempted in any courses taught;

   7. a list of awards or other formal recognition received for teaching. The date the award was received, a brief description of the award, and the organization or group sponsoring the award should be indicated;

   8. a description of significant activities in the development of new courses, curricula and degree programs and/or other efforts to improve and enhance the University's curricula;

   9. a brief description of other accomplishments and activities related to teaching that are not included in the items above, such as faculty contributions toward acquiring and maintaining national accreditation of programs, plus any results associated with student performance on external examinations.

5. a vita (maximum of [5] pages) focusing on the nominee's most recent teaching accomplishments and any scholarship and/or service directly related to teaching.

Self-nomination packets shall be limited to 12 numbered pages, e.g. the 1-page signature page, the 1-page executive summary, the 2-page discussion, the 3-page documentation of teaching accomplishments, and the 5-page vita. Margins shall be not less than .5 inches and font size shall be not less than 11 pt. Packets shall not include SIR or SUSSAI raw data, course syllabi or handouts, or teaching evaluations, other than that referenced above. Faculty members who submit materials that are not kept strictly within these guidelines or fail to submit all materials by the deadline will not be considered for an award.

Applications from eligible faculty must be delivered to the Office of Academic Affairs no later than 5 p.m. on the first Monday in November.

REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

There will be a TIP Selection Committee which shall consist of the deans of each of the Colleges, the Associate Academic Vice President, the Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs, and three non-voting faculty observers (the Past President of the Faculty Association, the Chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee, and a past recipient of the TIP Award appointed by the President of the Faculty Association). This committee shall review the packets and select the final recipients of the TIP awards. Award announcements will be made by January 7.

The Selection Committees shall focus on the assessment of measures of instructional quality, instructional distinction and productivity. These measurement categories are set out in the following tables:

a.

b.

APPLICANT'S STATEMENT

I, _________________________ (applicant's name), hereby attest to the accuracy of the information contained in this application.

Signature _________________________ Date _________________________

CHAIR'S STATEMENT

As the applicant's Department Chair, I _________________________ (Chair's name) stipulate that the material in this application is consistent with my knowledge of the performance of _________________________ (applicant's name).

Signature _________________________ Date _________________________

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Modified: October 6, 1998

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