a) There will be seven awards as follows (where “year” refers to the current year):
-
YEAR Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award (3x; the “GTA” awards)
-
YEAR Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant Award (3x, the “GRA” awards)
-
YEAR Outstanding Graduate Service Assistant Award (1x, the “GSA” award)
b) Each awardee receives a certificate and a check in the amount of $250.
c) The Graduate Affairs Committee (GAC) is in charge of choosing the recipients of the GTA and GRA awards. Members of GAC need to recuse themselves from discussions of GTA or GRA award nominations for any student they advise and may recuse themselves (at their own discretion) from discussions of any student that has been serving as GTA for a course taught by this faculty.
d) The DoC Chair is in charge of choosing the recipient of the Graduate Service award. The DoC Chair may delegate his authority to GAC if the DoC Chair needs to recuse himself/herself because the DoC Chair participates in a nomination and/or if he/she advises any one of the nominees.
f) Nominations for GTA awards can be made by undergraduate students and faculty. Aside from the nomination letter, there may be up to two supporting letters. The letters should be addressing the strengths of the nominee and how the teaching methods/style promoted the desired teaching and learning outcomes. Teaching evaluation scores should not be used as only and/or decisive metric.
g) Nominations for GRA awards are made by a member of the student’s doctoral committee (and usually by the student’s advisor). Aside from the nomination letter, there may be up to two supporting letters. The letters should address the strengths of the nominee’s research activities, describe the creative and innovative aspects of the research, and highlight the significance of specific products and their broader impacts. Products include publications, conference presentations, and intra- and intergroup mentoring.
h) Nominations for GSA award can be made by (groups of) undergraduate students, (groups of) graduate students, faculty and staff. Aside from the nomination letter, there may be up to two supporting letters. The letters should address the strengths of the nominee’s service activities and highlight specific activities that have had a noticeable impact on the gradual improvement of any aspects of processes and procedures that maintain the functioning of the department infrastructure.
i) Graduate Student awardees may not win in the same category in consecutive years. Example: If someone wins the GTA award in 2020, they would not be eligible to compete for a GTA award in 2021 (but could compete for Research and Service awards).
j) The Graduate Affairs Committee (GAC) reports the results of its selection to the DoC Chair by March 31. The report needs to include a mini-summary of the accomplishments of each awardee of less than 35 words. This mini-summary will be included in the Awards Banquet program and read at the banquet.