Purpose of the Program

The Faculty of Environment Dean’s Awards of Excellence recognize outstanding accomplishments by faculty members in research, teaching, and graduate student mentorship. The awards are given biennially, with the recipients selected based on nominations submitted to the Dean’s office by faculty, administrators, students, or staff. Final adjudication is performed by the Dean’s Executive.

Award Criteria and Eligibility

The awards are made on the basis of continuing excellence in research, teaching, and graduate student mentorship, with a focus on accomplishments in the six academic terms (two years) since the last award cycle. Earlier activities may be considered if it can be shown how these contributed to more recent accomplishments. Four awards are given, one in each of the categories below.

Excellence in Research. An excellent researcher is one engaged in an innovative, relevant, ethically informed program of research, with significant achievements in research activities, communications (broadly defined), and engagement that have positively impacted the discipline, academic community, and society. This award recognizes outstanding research as demonstrated through excellence in one or more of the following:

• Research creativity
• Research impact
• Community engagement
• Communication and dissemination of research results through traditional academic mechanisms, research creation, or other non-academic mechanisms (e.g., mass or social media, artistic, curatorial and exhibition activities, public policy interventions, etc.)

All continuing tenure track/tenured Professors, Lecturers, Senior Lecturers and University Lecturers are eligible for nomination.

Excellence in Early Career Research. An excellent early career researcher is one engaged in an innovative, relevant, ethically informed program of research. Relative to career opportunity, they demonstrate significant achievements in research activities, communications (broadly defined), and engagement, with emerging influences on the discipline, academic community, and society. This award recognizes early career faculty (defined as Assistant Professors and Lecturers) developing an outstanding program of research that will put them at the forefront of their discipline as demonstrated through excellence in one or more of the following:

• Research creativity
• Research impact
• Community engagement
• Communication and dissemination of research results through traditional academic mechanisms, research creation, or other non-academic mechanisms (e.g., mass or social media, artistic, curatorial and exhibition activities, public policy interventions, etc.)

All continuing Assistant Professors and Lecturers are eligible for nomination.

Excellence in Teaching. An excellent teacher inspires and advances student learning in ways that make substantive and positive influences on how students think, engage, and act in the world. This award recognizes outstanding teaching as demonstrated through excellence in one or more of the following:

• Overall quality of instruction and effectiveness of communication in the classroom, including in non-traditional class settings (e.g., field, community settings)
• Course design and curriculum development
• Innovative teaching methods that reflect continual improvement in teaching practice, and centering of the student experience
• Leadership in and contribution to pedagogical knowledge and development
• Demonstrated collegiality, professionalism, and respect in the pedagogical environment

All continuing tenure track/tenured Professors, Lecturers, Senior Lecturers and University Lecturers are eligible for nomination.

Excellence in Graduate Student Mentorship. Graduate student mentoring confers both the privilege and responsibility of shaping the next generation of disciplinary practitioners. Excellent graduate student mentors demonstrate a commitment to this process by providing support and respectful guidance, modelling professional conduct, and challenging students to reach their full potential through goal-setting and reflection. This award recognizes outstanding graduate mentoring as demonstrated through excellence in one or more of the following:

• Quality of mentorship, including fostering academic and professional competencies, promoting scholarly rigour, and inducting students into disciplinary culture
• Overall commitment to mentorship
• Leadership in and wider contribution to graduate student training
• Professionalism, integrity, and respectful conduct that inspires the same qualities in students

All continuing tenure track/tenured Professors are eligible for nomination.

Nomination and Award Procedures

Individuals may be nominated in one category per biennium. For this reason, nominators are expected to coordinate with their chair/director to manage nominations that go forward. Units may nominate more than one individual for each award category. Normally, self-nominations are not permitted, but candidates may express interest in nomination and work with nominators, supportive colleagues, and letter writers to prepare the nomination package. Individuals may be nominated for an award any number of times but may receive an award only once in six years (every three award cycles).

For all  awards, the nomination package should include a letter from the nominator describing the achievements for which the candidate is nominated and their relevance to the category criteria above. The letter should provide clear supporting examples and pertinent evidence. Teaching nomination packages may optionally include recent pedagogical materials (e.g., syllabi, examples of innovative assignments), up to two letters of support from current or past students, and surveys of course experience (“teaching evaluations”) from the last two years. Mentorship nomination packages must include at least two letters of support from graduate students (either two current students or one current and one recent student) describing the mentoring strengths of the nominee, with clear examples of how the nominee has contributed to the student’s academic and professional growth.

Nominations packages should be submitted through the nomination system below using the following file naming convention: Award (EarlyCareer, Research, Teaching, Mentorship)_Unit_Lastname_Year. The deadline to submit nominations is Tuesday April 2nd, 2024. Awards will be adjudicated by the Dean’s Executive and announced by mid-April. Awardees will receive a $1,500 honourarium and a commemorative certificate.

Find past Dean's Awards for Excellence in Teaching awardees here.