Humanities Alumni Spotlight:

The Rodica C. Botoman Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Mentoring in the College of Humanities at The Ohio State University

2006 Call for Nominations

The College of Humanities is pleased to announce its annual competition for the Rodica C. Botoman Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Mentoring. Through the generosity of Mr. Ben M. Jones III, a former Columbus businessman and long-time friend of The Ohio State University, the College will award at its annual spring Baccalaureate a prize of $5,000 to that member of the Humanities faculty who best exemplifies excellence as a teacher of undergraduates.

Nominations are welcome from students, colleagues, alumni, and parents. The selection will be made by a committee composed of the Dean of the College, two department chairs, two members of the University’s Academy of Teaching, and two undergraduate students. Nominees must be members of the regular Humanities faculty (assistant, associate, and full professor) who have displayed a sustained record of outstanding teaching in a range of undergraduate courses. While the emphasis will be on outstanding performance in the classroom, in evaluating dossiers the selection committee will also consider evidence that a faculty member has been a good out-of-class teacher, as a mentor or an advisor. The use of innovative teaching strategies, if it is clear that they have been helpful in advancing learning, will also be viewed favorably.

After a preliminary screening, the selection committee will identify several nominations that it wishes to examine further, at which time additional information will be requested from the faculty member’s department chair. Student evaluation forms (SEIs or SETs) from three recent classes will be examined; and the chair should submit a letter of support based on any materials a department regularly collects to document the teaching quality of its faculty members -- peer evaluation report or annual personal statements, for example. Representative students from several courses -- several majors in the department, some students from general education courses, a few recent alumni -- will be contacted and asked to evaluate the faculty member’s teaching via a survey. Graduate students who have had an opportunity to observe or work with the faculty member could also provide useful testimony. The deciding issue will be the quality of the evidence presented, not the quantity of nominations. The faculty member will not be contacted for a statement; indeed, it is the hope of the College that the awardee will be surprised (and delighted).

Persons interested in submitting a nomination should send a letter and nomination form addressing the issues mentioned above to Dean John W. Roberts, OSU College of Humanities, 186 University Hall, 230 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210. Nominations must reach the College Office by November 10, 2005. Questions? Call (614) 292-1882.