Excellence in Adjunct Teaching

The award process is coordinated through the Office of the President. Nominators are encouraged to consult with the Office of the President about candidate eligibility prior to preparing a nomination; questions about dossier preparation are welcome at any time.

The deadline for nominations was 12 p.m., Friday, October 11, 2024.

SUNY Oneonta may submit 3 nominations to this program annually.

Chancellor's Award Eligibility

There are also circumstances that preclude nomination regardless of the program. The following are special conditions that limit eligibility and these restrictions apply to all programs:

  • Individuals holding Distinguished Faculty Rank: Distinguished Librarian, Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Service Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor – may not be nominated for an Excellence Award in any of the categories;
  • Recipients of an Excellence Award may not be nominated for another Excellence Award within a five-year interval;
  • Recipients of an Excellence Award may not be re-nominated for an award in the same category;
  • Individuals holding qualified academic appointments (as defined in SUNY Board of Trustees policies: individuals holding the title of lecturer or titles of academic rank preceded by the designation “visiting” or other similar designations) may not be nominated;
  • The chief campus officer for academic, student, or administrative affairs, or persons serving in these capacities, may not be nominated for an Excellence Award. Other exclusions include the following (but not limited to) as well as other comparable titles: Direct reports to the President or Chancellor, Vice Chancellors and above, Vice Presidents and above, Vice Provosts and above, Senior Counsels and above, and the Deans of the College of Ceramics at Alfred University and the New York State Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, of Human Ecology, of Industrial and Labor Relations, and of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University;
  • Individuals should not be nominated in the same season for promotion to Distinguished Faculty rank and an Excellence Award in the same category (e.g., an individual should not be nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Professorship and an Excellence in Teaching award); and
  • Posthumous nominations are ineligible.

Adjunct Teaching Eligibility Criteria

  • Nominees must be Adjunct Faculty as generally defined by the specific SUNY institution. Individuals serving in full-time professional or academic positions at a SUNY institution are not eligible for this award;
  • Nominees must have taught, over the proceeding five years, a total of courses equivalent to one-half of a three-year full-time teaching load in the appropriate department;
  • Nominees may also serve in adjunct roles at other educational institutions; and
  • Nominees must be employed by the nominating campus at the time of the nomination.

Local Guidelines: How to Prepare a Nomination

Nominators' Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the nominator(s) to complete and submit all required and allowable support file data. This includes the electronic submission of the following documents to awards@oneonta.edu by noon on Friday, October 11, 2024:

  • One complete PDF dossier containing all required materials
  • One MS Word document of the maximum five-page summary
  • One MS Word document of the nominee’s curriculum vitae

Nominator Dossier Preparation

The dossier will contain all required materials in the sequence below, with a table of contents. Incomplete nominations will automatically be disqualified.

  1. Table of contents.
  2. The one-page abstract, signed by the nominator(s), must highlight the nominee’s most outstanding accomplishments, organized by the specific SUNY selection criteria. Also, it must briefly describe the campus support for the nomination.
  3. The Summary Presentation (five-page summary) should include direct quotes from the letters of support and must speak specifically to each of the selection criteria in the SUNY guidelines as follows:

    Selection Criteria for Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching:

    The primary criterion is skill in teaching.

    Teaching Techniques and Representative Materials – There must be positive evidence that the candidate performs superbly in educational environments. The nominee must maintain instructional policies that adapt readily to student needs, interests and problems. Mastery of teaching techniques must be demonstrated and substantiated.

    Candidates' evaluations of students' work must be strongly supported by evidence. When available, student evaluations (in the form of student questionnaires administered and compiled by persons other than the nominee) may provide a clear idea of the nominee's effectiveness in teaching.

    Additional consideration, as appropriate, may be given to:

    • Outstanding support for the intellectual growth of individual students;
    • Demonstrated use of relevant contemporary data from their discipline(s) in their teaching. Evidence may be scholarly and/or widely recognized experience in the field;
    • Number of students per course; and
    • Different teaching techniques employed.

    The format of the Summary Presentation (five-page summary) is significant because the document if approved by the local selection committee, will be forwarded to SUNY System Administration. Formatting requirements include:

    • The heading must indicate the name, rank, and college of the nominee and the nominator as follows:

      Name, Rank, SUNY Oneonta, nominated for the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching by Name, Title, SUNY Oneonta.

    • The final paragraph must repeat the nomination and summarize its salient points.
    • Avoid the use of first-person.
    • Single-space with at least 11 point font size and set margins to at least 1".
    • Please do not use acronyms or language which will not be understood by external reviewers.
  4. The required curriculum vitae must be reasonably detailed, specifying the most recent (with last-modified date) and required data (date of appointment to the SUNY system, highest rank attained and date of appointment to that rank).
  5. Recent (ideally within one year) letters providing strong evidence of the effectiveness of teaching techniques and addressing the criteria for this award. These shall be limited to no more than five (5) letters, some of which may be from individuals not employed on campus. SUNY Oneonta peers should be at the nominee’s rank or higher and should not also be listed as nominators for the dossier; a letter from the department chair (or designee) is required. In addition, no more than two (2) letters of support from students (preferably former students) may be included.
  6. Documentation supporting teaching excellence will be used only for the on-campus evaluation. It must contain the following evidence to support the statements in the five-page summary:
    • A complete list of courses taught (not including sections) during the candidate’s career at SUNY Oneonta (if not listed in CV).
    • A list of three years of enrollments per section.
    • Syllabi and other materials demonstrating use of contemporary instructional strategies, from the last two years.
    • Summary of Student Course Survey quantitative results and free responses from the last two years, ideally with at least 50% response rate; if possible, include comparisons with department and school/university aggregate data; optionally, include an explanation of the context.
    • Grade distribution for all courses taught for the last two years, as compared to departmental or college distribution.
    • If applicable, include a summary of how scholarship and/or service activities are related to the nominee’s teaching.

Last updated 9/27/2024

SUNY Guidelines

Rating Sheet​​​​​

Incomplete nominations will automatically be disqualified.

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