Excellence in Faculty Service

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.

SUNY Oneonta may submit one nomination to this program annually.

Eligibility

Each award has program-specific eligibility criteria; nonetheless, there are eligibility criteria common to all. Regardless of program, nominees must have completed three academic years of full-time appointment out of the five years just prior to the year of nomination and must be resident on campus when nominated. Individuals serving in part-time, or any qualified academic rank, such as adjunct, clinical, or visiting capacities – irrespective of length of their service or amount of their involvement – are ineligible for these programs.

General restrictions on 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.

Eligibility criteria

Academic Background – Candidates must be full-time teaching faculty for the academic year in which the award is to be given, and regularly carry a full-time teaching load as defined by the campus for full-time teaching. (The definition of a full teaching load varies from campus to campus, but each campus should be satisfied that there can be no question that its nominee meets this criterion. Teachers of studio courses or other specialized courses in which credit hours are normally low are to be considered in terms of the full-time load normally expected for the discipline.)

The significance of having the campus define “full-time” teaching is particularly relevant in the case of Department Chairs. Campuses frequently provide course reductions for faculty serving in such capacities. If the reduction is applied uniformly, then this reduced load becomes “full-time” for that particular position. Individuals serving in this capacity may be nominated for the award contingent upon their carrying the campus-defined, full-time teaching load for persons performing such administrative responsibilities (e.g., if a campus defines 15 hours as a full-time teaching load for full-time faculty, and 12 hours as a full-time teaching load for Department Chairs, then an individual serving as a Department Chair and teaching the 12 hours and meeting the other eligibility requirements would be eligible for nomination). The nomination portfolio should clearly indicate that the Department Chair is carrying a campus-defined full-time teaching load as defined for Department Chairs. One caveat: except for Department Chairs, teaching requirements must constitute more than 50 percent of the position’s responsibility. Otherwise, the individual should be considered for the Excellence in Professional Service Award. Please remember that Department Chairs are always considered faculty first, and it is the intent that the Professional Service category be reserved for staff.

Academic Rank – Nominees for the award may hold any academic rank (as defined in SUNY Board of Trustees policies: individuals holding the title of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor or assistant instructor).

Length of Service – Nominees must have completed at least three academic years in full-time appointment (years do not need to be consecutive) at the nominating campus prior to the year of nominations.

Restrictions – 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.

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 Friday, January 10, 2025 at noon:

• 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

SUNY will announce winners in April or May; however, due to timing factors, only award recipients and their campuses will be notified.

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:

   To be nominated, a faculty member must demonstrate consistently superior service. Eligible service contributions may occur in a variety of areas including service to the campus, the State University, the local community or contributions at the regional, state-wide, national or international levels. Eligible activities may encompass a combination of service contributions to discipline or disciplinary and professional organizations and societies; and to leadership in local or system-wide faculty governance.

   The nature of the service must exceed the work generally considered to be part of a candidate’s basic professional obligation (professional committees, etc.) and must include service that exceeds that for which faculty are normally compensated. There must be positive evidence of outstanding achievement and skill in providing leadership, outreach, or other University and/or community service or extraordinary service and leadership in the nominee’s professional organization.

   The scope of the service must extend over multiple years, must be geared toward effecting positive change and must involve the generous giving of personal time in service to areas previously described. Candidates for this award must be full-time teaching/instructional faculty who meet, and preferably exceed the selection criteria, and who also demonstrate initiative and creativity in exceeding these standards.

   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 Faculty Service 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 or resume 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 faculty service 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. If the nominee’s service includes roles that involve direct student contact, no more than two (2) additional 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 list of service roles and activities within SUNY Oneonta at various levels: Department, School, College. Please note which are expected of all faculty in the nominee’s department, and which exceed typical expectations for someone at the nominee’s rank. Please note the time frame and extent of involvement.
   • Brief descriptions of service roles and activities in the nominee’s professional area. Please note time frame and extent of involvement, including activities such as outstanding achievement and skill in providing leadership, outreach, or other University and/or community service or extraordinary service and leadership in the nominee’s professional organization. The scope of the service must extend over multiple years and must be geared toward effecting positive change.
   • If applicable, include a summary of how students are involved in service activities; also as applicable, include a summary of how service activities are related to scholarship and/or creative activities.
   • A complete list of courses taught (not including sections) during the candidate’s career at SUNY Oneonta (if not listed in CV).
   • 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.

Last updated 9/27/2024

SUNY Guidelines
Rating Sheet

Incomplete nominations will automatically be disqualified.