The purpose of the the award is to recognize excellence in teaching performance at the undergraduate level and to provide an incentive to achieve that goal.
Each awardee will receive a one-time award of a $3,000 and a framed certificate.
Nominations are due to the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost by November 1, 2024, through the Faculty Awards and Honors Packets Dropbox.
Full-time regular and non-regular faculty members of the University of Oklahoma from an academic program with an undergraduate component are eligible to receive the University Distinguished Teaching Award. The faculty member must have been a University of Oklahoma employee during the period for which the outstanding contributions are being recognized; previous accomplishments at other institutions, if applicable, may be used in support of a continued outstanding performance in the area of the specific award.
Those holding distinguished professorships are not eligible. Persons receiving the Regents' Award for Superior Teaching, Research and Creative Activity, and Professional and University Service, are not eligible during the year of their award. A person who has received a University Distinguished Teaching Award (previously known as the Good Teaching Award) is not eligible for the next three years after he or she receives it.
Initiation
The Senior Vice President and Provost of Norman campus will solicit recommendations for the award by September 15 of each year and announce appropriate schedules for processing the nominations. Furthermore, the solicitations will be posted on the appropriate campus website.
Recommendations
Nominations may derive from department chairs or unit directors, elected members of departmental/unit Committee A, a departments/unit's approved nomination committee, Center leaders, or a group of faculty who are familiar with the nominee's qualifications for the award. Only one nomination by an academic unit or other nominating group of faculty is allowed. The nominating entity will be responsible for assembling the nomination packets including supporting documentation.
Nominations shall be forwarded to the respective dean for review and endorsement. An optional letter from the dean, if included, will focus on evaluatory comments regarding the quality and significance of the nominee's impact on the broader OU mission. The dean's letter will not count towards the 25-page limit outlined below. The dean will forward the nomination materials to the respective Senior Vice President and Provost by November 1.
Supporting Documentation
Nomination packets must include the following, not to exceed 25 pages combined. Substantiating data should relate directly to the individual’s teaching effectiveness at the undergraduate level:
In addition, the nomination packet must also include letters of support. No more than five letters should be included. Additional letters will be removed. Letters may come from current or former students, student organizations, faculty colleagues, alumni, department chairs, members of Committee A, or others familiar with evaluating the individual’s teaching effectiveness at the undergraduate level. These letters of support will not count toward the 25-page limit.
The following sequence should be followed. Begin page numbering with the letter of nomination.
Submission
All materials listed above should be submitted as a single combined PDF from the appropriate Dean's Office to the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost via the Faculty Awards and Honors Packets Dropbox.
Review
The University Council on Faculty Awards and Honors shall consider only the formal nominations. The Council may seek additional data about the nominees from supplemental sources, as appropriate. The Council shall forward to the Senior Vice President and Provosts its recommendation(s). The Council also shall transmit all substantiating materials pertaining to all nominees.
Selection
The Senior Vice President and Provosts will review the nomination materials and the Council’s recommendation(s), and will forward their recommendation(s) by February 1, along with all nominations and all substantiating material pertaining to all nominees, to the President.
The final selection will be announced for Norman Campus at the annual Faculty Awards and Honors ceremony.
Each award winner will receive a one-time award of $3,000 and a framed certificate.
This award is hosted by the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost. For questions about this award, please contact the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost (facultyawards@ou.edu).
The University Distinguished Teaching Award was first part of the Good Teaching Awards Program that was introduced by the Standard Oil (Indiana) Foundation in 1966. The purpose of the program was to recognize excellence in teaching performance at the undergraduate level and to provide an incentive to achieve that goal. The University of Oklahoma began participating in the program in 1968. In 1973, the name of the foundation was changed to the AMOCO Foundation, Inc. and then changed to BP Amoco in the late 1990's. In 2003 the sponsor name was removed and the award became known at the University as the Good Teaching Award. In 2019, the award was renamed to the University Distinguished Teaching Award.
