The purpose of the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence is to recognize excellence in teaching in Virginia’s community colleges.
The Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence is awarded annually to one teaching faculty member in the VCCS who distinctly represents the teaching excellence found at VCCS college(s). The award provides the recipient with a VCCS stole and $5,000. One nomination per campus will be accepted.
Eligible applicants:
- Are full-time teaching faculty with unrestricted rank and salary proposals,
- Possess a minimum of five years of full-time VCCS service during which at least 75% of the workload was devoted to teaching, and
- Are recommended by the president of the employing institution
Note: The VCCS will consider one applicant per campus.
Selection of the Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence recipient is made by a committee comprised of one college president, one academic vice president, two deans (one academic and one student services), three faculty members, one student, and the Director of Professional Development.
The criteria on which the recipient is selected reflect instructional effectiveness, student focus, discipline competence, and personal attributes. More detailed information about the criteria is included below.
Application Packet
The completed application packet for the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence must include these two items (additional materials are not accepted).
1. An electronic information document containing:
- 150-word abstract of information in the proposal,
- Narrative that provides compelling evidence of the nominee’s excellence (Maximum length is 5 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font, 1” margins all around. It is strongly recommended that the material in the narrative be organized by the four criteria presented.),
- A syllabus of a class taught within the last five years, and
- One-page letter of support from the president of the nominee’s institution (screen shot of the actual letter with the president’s signature).
2. An electronic demonstration document featuring the nominee engaged in teaching that demonstrates aspects of the four criteria listed below. To strengthen the connection to the four criteria, the applicant should consider organizing the document by those criteria. The demonstration document must be submitted in the format specified. Examples could include:
- Video of the applicants teaching or working with student(s). Maximum length is 6 minutes. [This must be submitted as a Quicktime (.mov) file.], or
- Screen shots from an online class, copied into a MS Word document, no more than 10 pages, or
- Text from student discussion boards, copied into a MS Word document, no more than 10 pages, or
- A Powerpoint presentation.
Submission Process
It is expected that the preparation of materials for the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence will position a college and its nominee(s) to address related criteria for the SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award.
| November 15 |
on the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence for the
upcoming year is announced and posted on the VCCS Professional Development web site. |
| April 25 |
Nomination packets are due to the VCCS Director of Professional Development at the system office. |
| June |
The Selection Committee chooses recipient. |
| November |
Chancellor announces recipient at the State Board for Community Colleges Annual Meeting. Additional announcements are distributed through the VCCS Office of Institutional Advancement and the VCCS Office of Professional Development web site. |
The four criteria given below will be given equal weight by the Selection Committee.
1. Instructional Effectiveness:
- encourages active learning
- respects diverse talents and ways of knowing
- creates and offers many options for learning
- gives prompt feedback
- emphasizes time on task
- assesses student learning through documentation
- promotes a complete range of thinking skills
- integrates the acquisition of basic academic success skills and academic values into course work
- integrates technology appropriately into teaching and learning
- understands current trends and issues related to pedagogy and the discipline
2. Student Focus:
- promotes positive student relationships
- encourages cooperation among students (through group work or projects, collaborative
learning communities, or other mechanisms)
- engages learners as full partners in the learning process, with learners assuming responsibility for their own choices
- communicates high expectations
- encourages personal development, work and career preparation
- creates change in learners
- engages students in activities outside of the classroom such as clubs, organizations, tutoring, field trips, or similar activities
3. Discipline Competence:
- possesses specific knowledge and skills
- maintains currency through discipline-related professional development
4. Personal Attributes:
- models life-long learning
- engages in positive working relationships with students, colleagues, departments, campuses, and/or community
- affirms and participates in shaping a college’s culture (mission, vision, and values)
- demonstrates clear reasoning skills
For more information on the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, contact
Ms. Nan Ottenritter, Director of Professional Development, at nottenritter@vccs.edu.
The recipient of the 2010 Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence is:
Brent Kendrick
Professor of English
Lord Fairfax Community College
Brent Kendrick – the son of a West Virginia coal miner and the first in his family to attend college – has received the 2010 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Congratulations Brent!
Brent uses many strategies to engage students, including giving them a wide range of learning options. In his literature classes students can demonstrate their understanding of a literary work by creating paintings, sculptures, and even videos. Appreciating the value of prompt feedback, he returns papers within a week, grades discussion board forums within two days of their closing, and gives each student personal feedback. He is the author of numerous books, a Phi Theta Kappa co-advisor, and a frequent collaborator with colleagues.
LFCC’s president, Cheryl Thompson-Stacy says, “I have worked with close to a thousand full-time faculty members during my career. Dr. Kendrick is one of the top (if not the top) faculty member who I have had the pleasure of knowing. He is one of the finest human beings I have ever met. He exemplifies professionalism, life-long learning and a positive relationship with everyone he works with, coupled with his true devotion to students and their education.”
Congratulations Brent!
The recipient of the 2009 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence is:
Kim Hoosier
Associate Professor of Sociology
Piedmont Virginia Community College
Ms. Hoosier has received the 2009 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. She was awarded an academic stole and a $5,000 check (minus taxes!) at the State Board for Community Colleges’ meeting in November 2009. Congratulations, Kim!
On any given day, you might find her students: 1) providing a critical analysis of the movie “Antz” by viewing the film through the main three theories of sociology, or 2) writing an intellectually challenging research paper, or 3) conducting a “poverty project” in which those students pick one topic relating to poverty, conduct a literature review, and then live off a poverty budget for a week (that is $4.25 for food and drink for a day). As the interim coordinator for service learning she supervised the organization and implementation of a Refugee Community Day. She also advises the PVCC Volunteer Club and recently completed her Ph.D. in Sociology from UVA.
In the words of PVCC’s president, Frank Friedman, “Kim has received wide student acclaim for her intellectually demanding and stimulating classes. She has the ability to make sociology relevant, practical, entertaining, absorbing, and eye-opening. Her classes have become favorites among PVCC students due to the rapport she has with them.”
Congratulations, Kim!
Martin D. Zahn
Associate Professor of Biology
Thomas Nelson Community College
Mr. Zahn has received the 2008 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He was awarded the $5,000 check, an academic stole and medallion at the State Board for Community Colleges’ meeting in November 2008. Congratulations, Marty!
Dr. James O'Brien
Professor of Psychology
Tidewater Community College
Dr. O'Brien received the 2007 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He was awarded the $5,000 check, an academic stole and medallion at the State Board for Community Colleges’ meeting in November 2008. Congratulations, Jim!