Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award is meant to recognize graduate students who have distinguished themselves by the nurturing academic environment they provide and the skill they have shown in teaching.

The essential purpose of the citation is to bring college-wide recognition to the best student instructors and to recognize the contribution they make to undergraduate programs within CANR.

Eligibility

Ideal candidates for the Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award will have/provide:

Evidence of dedication to instruction through experimentation and successful implementation of innovative techniques and/or contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Evidence of excellence in instruction as demonstrated by the impact on students’ careers.
Evidence of excellence in instruction as demonstrated by the impact on colleagues’ teaching and advising practice.

To be nominated for a CANR Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching citation, the graduate student must have taught at least one semester while a graduate student at MSU. The nominee must have assumed a significant measure of responsibility for teaching undergraduate courses, whether in lecture, recitation or laboratory sections. Special tutorial or seminar teaching will also be recognized by the citation committee.

To verify that a nominee meets the award criteria, the committee looks for:

Demonstrable evidence of dedication to instruction through experimentation and successful implementation of innovative techniques and/or contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning, and
Evidence of excellence in instruction as demonstrated by the impact on students' careers and colleagues' teaching/advising practices.

Award recipients will be honored each spring with a citation and a $1,000 award. This award may be received only once.

Nomination Process

The nomination window is announced in the fall.

Application Package Completion Process

Following nomination, the CANR Awards Team will verify the nominees’ eligibility for consideration. If they meet eligibility criteria, we will notify the nominee and invite them to complete an application package electronically. The nominee will receive a personal link (that can only be used by the nominee) to complete an application package.

Required application materials include: