Professional Development

Outstanding Community-Engaged Teaching Award

The application deadline has been extended to Monday, October 28, 2024 at 11:59 PM.  

Community engagement and student success are two of the University of South Florida’s Strategic Priorities.

Community engagement describes the collaboration between faculty and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. The purpose of community engagement is the partnership of college and university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good.                                                                                                           —Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Academic Affairs in partnership with Office of University Community Partnerships is pleased to offer a teaching award recognizing Outstanding Community-Engaged Teaching. This is an annual award that will consider community-engaged teaching efforts over the previous academic year. Two awards will be given out each year. Each recipient will get an award of $2,000 (less normal payroll taxes).

Purpose of Award

The Outstanding Community-Engaged Teaching Award recognizes excellence, innovation, and effectiveness in teaching that demonstrates:

  • Community collaboration: A commitment and capacity to develop and sustain reciprocal community partnerships and to contribute to positive change on issues of public concern.
  • Deeply engaged, high-quality teaching: The integration of civic and community engagement into one’s teaching, and possibly into one’s research and/or service, as appropriate to one’s field/discipline and faculty roles.
  • Institutional impact: Leadership in developing cultures, programs, and/or policies that promote meaningful engagement at our campus, within higher education, and/or in one’s discipline.

Eligibility

Candidates for the Outstanding Community-Engaged Teaching Award must be full-time continuing faculty (including instructors) on any of the USF campuses who have taught a minimum of two courses during the prior academic year. Both undergraduate and graduate teaching are considered.

Applicants for the Outstanding Community-Engaged Teaching Award should have participated in some form of curricular community engagement during the prior academic year; appointed to full-time continuing faculty positions during the past two academic years; and not have received this award during the previous three years. Visiting faculty are not eligible. Examples of such engagement include:

  • Teaching undergraduate or graduate service-learning courses
  • Developing departmental or institutional civic engagement programs and curricula
  • Studying the impact of such courses and programs on students’ civic development
  • Faculty direction of internship courses can be considered if such courses include syllabi, learning outcomes, and interaction with community partners

Application

  • Application should include your name, faculty rank, department, and teaching load.
  • Application essay should not exceed 1,500 words, and should include the following:
    • Scope of activities: Describe your community-engaged teaching activities in the prior academic year.
    • Community collaboration: Describe how your community-engaged teaching activities promote mutually beneficial partnerships between the university and the community.
    • Effective, high-quality teaching: Describe the impact your community-engaged teaching has had on students. Also describe any innovative practices you have used.
    • Institutional impact: Describe any impacts your community-engaged teaching activities have had on (if applicable) your professional development, your department or college, interdisciplinary collaborations, and the development and institutionalization of cross-sector partnerships.
  • Applicants may also comment on the significance of community-engaged teaching activities to their research activities; however, this is not required as not all applicants have research assignments.

Supporting Documentation

  1. A copy of your current curriculum vita (limited to 5 pages), with any relevant forms of community engagement highlighted in green.
  2. Enclose a link to an online bio of yourself.
  3. A letter of support from a department chair or faculty colleague familiar with your community engagement activities (limited to 2 pages).
  4. A letter of support from a community partner (limited to 2 pages).
  5. Up to three community-engaged learning syllabi from courses you taught during the prior academic year. Course assignments that spell out community-engaged learning projects can be added as well.
  6. If applicable: student evaluations of your community-engaged teaching; evaluations you have conducted on community-engaged student learning; reports or publications from the prior academic year that you have generated based on your community-engaged teaching experience.

Timeline and Review Process

Applications and nominations are to be submitted online using the appropriate links below. The application deadline has been extended to Monday, October 28, 2024 at 11:59 PM (originally Oct. 1). For questions, please contact Madeleine Hershberger, Provost’s Office at mhershberger@usf.edu.

Applications will be reviewed by a committee appointed by the Director of Community Engagement for the Office of University Community Partnerships (ex officio) and approved by the Provost's designee. The committee will be comprised of 5 members, two full-time faculty members from the Tampa campus, and one full-time faculty member from each branch campus (both tenured and nontenured faculty) who have taught and/or published in community engagement. Two of the committee members will be the previous year’s awardees. No member of the Committee may also be an applicant. The designation of committee members will be conducted annually.

The committee will consider both quantity (i.e., how many community-engaged courses you have you taught) and quality (i.e., how fully you have integrated community engagement into your teaching; how large an impact your activities have had on students and communities).

The committee will make recommendations for awards to the Provost's designee during the fall semester. Notifications of the winners will be sent via email from the Office of the Provost during the fall semester; regrets will be sent by email at the same time.

Submit application here.
Nominators submit here.
Download a copy of the rubric here.