Nominations Open For Three MPA Teaching Awards

Nominations for each of three MPA Teaching Awards (Graduate Faculty in Psychology, Mink Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award, Outstanding Teaching of Psychology in Community/Two-Year Colleges) should be submitted to the MPA Office no later than Friday, March 4, 2016.  The criteria and nomination process for each award are outlined below.  Questions can be directed to Jack Rossmann at Macalester College ([email protected]).

MPA Award for Outstanding Graduate Faculty in Psychology

The Minnesota Psychological Association is seeking nominations for the MPA Award for Outstanding Graduate Faculty in Psychology. This award recognizes a faculty member who brings a special quality or commitment to working with graduate students in psychology. The award will be presented at the MPA Annual Convention. The procedures and criteria for the award are outlined below.

CRITERIA: Nominations will be judged on the following criteria, although nominees will not be expected to have achieved recognition in all areas.

  • Excellence in instruction. Evidence might include student and colleague evaluations, teaching awards, or other forms of recognition as well as evidence of providing excellent training in research/practice/professional ethics.
  • Involvement of students in research, scholarship, and professional development activities. Evidence might include publications of students, awards to students, and a list of advisees and their accomplishments.
  • Development of programs for graduate students. This might include the development of special programs for graduate students relevant to teaching, practice, or research, or special programs of a more social nature.
  • Advising and mentoring of students. Evidence of being accessible to and supportive of students and their goals and ideas, responsive to students’ needs at different stages of development, and providing helpful feedback regarding students’ strengths and weaknesses. More objective criteria might include membership on graduate committees.
  • Professional identity as a teacher/mentor. Evidence might include publication of articles on teaching/mentoring, attendance at professional meetings relevant to teaching/mentoring, and effective mentoring of new faculty.

Nomination Process

Nominations of an outstanding graduate faculty member can be made by the head of the nominee’s program/department, a colleague, or former student. Nominees should have been at their current institution for at least five years, but the award can be for distinguished performance over many years or a single extraordinary contribution. Neither the nominee nor the nominator needs to be a member of MPA.

The nomination packet should contain:

  1. The nominee’s vita, including his/her educational history (e.g., degrees, granting institutions, and years granted), professional work history, and membership in professional and honorary organizations.
  2. No more than three letters from former students.
  3. A letter (3 page maximum) from the nominator that addresses the criteria listed above.

Click here to make a nomination.

MPA Walter D. Mink Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award

The Minnesota Psychological Association (MPA) is seeking nominations for the Walter D. Mink Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award. This award recognizes a teacher who brings a special quality or commitment to undergraduate teaching in psychology. The award will be presented at the MPA Annual Convention.

CRITERIA: Nominations will be judged on the following criteria, although nominees will not be expected to have achieved recognition in all areas:

  • Outstanding performance as a classroom teacher. Examples might include student and colleague evaluations, teaching awards or other forms of prior recognition, and evidence of uniqueness that gives a special quality to teaching and enhances student learning.
  • Development of effective teaching methods, courses, and/or teaching materials. Examples might include effective use of new technology, the adoption of newer approaches to teaching/learning such as cooperative learning, and the development of innovative courses or curricula.
  • Demonstrated influence in interesting students in the field of psychology. Examples might include evidence of students presenting papers or posters at professional meetings or publishing articles with the teacher, actions by the teacher, both curricular and co-curricular, intended to increase student interest and involvement in psychology, excellence in advising, and recognition of psychology as a discipline which fosters diverse perspectives.
  • Promotion of professional identity as a teacher of psychology. Examples might include professional activity on or away from campus, including publication of articles on teaching, stimulation of student research, attendance at professional meetings or workshops relevant to the teaching of psychology, and effective mentoring of newer faculty.

Nomination Process

Nominations of an outstanding teacher of undergraduate psychology will be made by the chair of the psychology department or the institution’s president or chief academic officer. Nominees from any stage in their careers as faculty are welcome. Neither the nominee nor the nominator needs to be a member of MPA.

A nomination packet should include:

  1. The educational history of the nominee including degrees, granting institutions, and years granted; nominee’s professional work history; professional and honorary organizations in which the nominee holds membership.
  2. No more than three letters from junior or senior psychology majors or (if the institution doesn’t have a psychology major) other juniors or seniors at the institution.
  3. A letter of no more than three pages from the nominator which addresses the criteria listed above.

Click here to make a nomination.

MPA Award for the Outstanding Teaching of Psychology in Community/2-Year Colleges

This award recognizes a faculty member who brings a special quality or commitment to working with psychology students in the community college/two year college setting. The award will be presented at the MPA Annual Convention. The procedures and criteria for the award are outlined below.

CRITERIA: Nominations will be judged on the following criteria, although nominees will not be expected to have achieved recognition in all areas.

  • Demonstrated influence in interesting students in the field of psychology. Examples might include: actions by the teacher, both curricular and co-curricular, intended to increase student interest and involvement in psychology; excellence in advising; recognition of psychology as a discipline which fosters diverse perspectives; and facilitating transfer of students for continuing work in four-year programs.
  • Development of effective teaching methods, courses, and/or teaching materials. Examples might include: effective use of new technology; the adoption of newer approaches to teaching/learning such as cooperative learning; the development of innovative courses or curricula; and collaboration with other faculty in the institution to provide instruction on psychological topics in other majors and programs.
  • Outstanding performance as a classroom teacher. Examples might include student evaluations, colleague evaluations, teaching awards or other forms of prior recognition, and evidence of uniqueness that gives a special quality to teaching and enhances student learning.
  • Professional identity as a teacher of psychology. Examples might include: professional activity on or away from campus, including publications of articles on teaching, attendance at professional meetings or workshops relevant to the teaching of psychology, and effective mentoring of new faculty.

Nomination Process

Nominations of an outstanding teacher of psychology in community/two-year institutions can be made by a faculty colleague, the department chair, or an institutional administrator. Nominees from any stage in their career as faculty members are welcome, and the award can be for distinguished performance over many years or a single extraordinary contribution. Neither the nominee nor the nominator needs to be a member of MPA.

The nomination packet should contain:

  1. The nominee’s vita which should include degrees, granting institutions, and years granted; nominee’s professional work history; professional and honorary organizations in which the nominee holds membership.
  2. No more than three letters from students who have been enrolled in psychology courses at the institution.
  3. A letter of no more than three pages from the nominator that addresses the criteria listed above.

Click here to make a nomination.

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