The School of Arts and Sciences invites current students to help identify and recognize outstanding faculty members.
All currently enrolled School of Arts and Sciences students may nominate instructors for the School's annual teaching awards. A recommendation essay that is at least 50 words long must accompany every nomination. You will not be able to submit a nomination without the required essay.
Please direct questions to: teaching@sas.upenn.edu.
The Ira H. Abrams Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching for Faculty in the School of Arts and Sciences seeks to recognize teaching that is intellectually rigorous and exceptionally coherent and that leads to an informed understanding of a discipline. Recipients of the Ira Abrams Memorial Award are expected to embody high standards of integrity and fairness, to have a strong commitment to learning, and to be open to new ideas. As the School of Arts and Sciences' highest teaching honor, the Abrams Award recognizes faculty who have sustained records of teaching excellence. Tenured members of the standing faculty are eligible.
Up to two awards are made each year.
This award is given to assistant professors who show unusual promise as teachers/scholars. Nominees may not be in their tenure-review year.
This award is presented annually to SAS standing faculty members who have made use of innovative teaching techniques in the service of outstanding teaching. Exceptional innovation here means using teaching strategies other than those typical in the department in order to enhance student learning. Award winners may have adapted teaching practices used elsewhere or may have pioneered entirely new approaches to teaching. Nominees may not be in their tenure-review year.
This award is presented to SAS standing faculty members for meaningful engagement of undergraduate students in research due to exceptional nurturing and facilitating by faculty. Nominees may not be in their tenure-review year.
This award is presented annually in recognition of the contributions to education for undergraduate students and, if appropriate, graduate students, made by the School's adjunct professors and lecturers. The award honors teaching that is intellectually rigorous, exceptionally coherent, and stimulates active and interactive student engagement in the learning process. Candidates nominated must have taught in at least one undergraduate course in the School of Arts and Sciences during the current academic year and at least three courses overall.
Presented annually to graduate students in the arts and sciences in recognition of their contributions to undergraduate teaching. In general, the Dean's Award seeks to recognize teaching that is intellectually rigorous, exceptionally coherent, and that has considerable impact upon students. Recipients of the Dean's Award are expected to embody unusually high standards of integrity, fairness and commitment to learning.
Up to ten awards will be given. Awards may be for either teaching assistants for labs and recitations or for graduate students teaching their own courses. Candidates nominated must have taught in at least three semesters in the School of Arts Sciences, and the department must support the nomination. Candidates must have assigned course load in at least two of these semesters. Each department or graduate group may nominate up to four students for this award. When more than one nomination is submitted by a department, though, the candidates must be rank-ordered. Graduate students should be proposed without their knowledge, if at all possible.
This award is presented for exceptional teaching in the graduate programs in Liberal and Professional Studies (MES, MSAG, MLA, MAPP, MMP, MCS, MSOD, MBDS, MPA and Executive MPA plus graduate certificate programs). Nominees must demonstrate the ability to engage professional graduate students actively in the learning process through teaching that is intellectually rigorous and innovative, and supports professional and academic learning outcomes for these programs. Nominees must have taught at least three times in Liberal and Professional Studies at the graduate level. Nominees from the standing faculty may not be in their tenure-review year.
This award is presented for exceptional teaching in undergraduate and post-baccalaureate programs in Liberal and Professional Studies (BA, BAAS, BFA, Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Health, Post-Baccalaureate Classical Studies and General Post-Baccalaureate Studies). Nominees must demonstrate the ability to engage LPS undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students actively in the learning process through teaching that is intellectually rigorous and innovative, and supports learning outcomes for these programs. Nominees must have taught at least three times in Liberal and Professional Studies at the undergraduate or post-baccalaureate leve. Nominees from the standing faculty may not be in their tenure-review year.