Nomination ballots are out for one of the most prestigious awards given to teachers at The University of Memphis.
The 2002 Distinguished Teaching Award ballots have been mailed out to 9,000 current U of M students, 3,500 graduates, and all full-time faculty.
This particular award is heavily based on students at The U of M. Each class that the nominated educator teaches is given a survey, in which they can evaluate their teacher. These evaluations, as well as the letter from the president of the nominee’s department, go a long way in determining the winners.
The Distinguished Teaching Award is given to four faculty members each year at the spring convocation.
The criteria for nominees is: “Knowledge in his or her field, respect for the opinions of others, effectiveness in the classroom and genuine interest in students and teaching,” said David Sigsbee, chairman of the Distinguished Teaching Award Committee.
The winners’ names are engraved on a plaque that is placed in the Administration Building’s atrium along with a framed photo.
“Among faculty, it is a fairly prestigious award,” said Thomas Caplinger, associate professor of mathematical sciences and two-time award winner, 1975 and 1999.
“It’s really tough to get nominated because you have to be named by all three nominating groups, and from that list the selection committee will choose about 20 finalists,” said Sigsbee.
“Everybody on the nomination list is known to be a good teacher,” said Caplinger.
Along with the award the winners receive $2,000 each and are eligible to be on future selection committees.
“The money was very nice but the award is more than just the money, much more,” said Caplinger.
The Distinguished Teaching Award is sponsored and funded by the Alumni Association, which began sponsoring the award three years ago.
“It was just a real thrill, a big point of winning the award is being nominated in the three separate categories, that’s an honor,” said Caplinger, who is one of only seven teachers to win the award twice since its inception in 1967. Charles Biggers, Glen Davis, Graves Enck, Michael Hamrick, James Payne and Steven Ross are the others.
