Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

The generous support of University Trustee Robert Goergen and his wife, Pamela, enables the College to recognize, reward, and encourage strong and innovative undergraduate teaching.

The Goergen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching recognizes the distinctive teaching accomplishments and skills of faculty in Arts, Sciences and Engineering. The award aims to acknowledge the full scope of work that contributes to excellence in undergraduate education. It can be given for distinguished teaching in large introductory courses or advanced seminars. In addition to being given for superior classroom performance, it can recognize innovation in course design or teaching methods, the creative use of educational technology, the integration of research and teaching, the capacity to elicit superior work from students, or the mentoring of students in independent study projects and senior essays.

Submission and Decision Process

The College invites nominations from chairs or program directors within the College. In addition to the nomination letter (provided by the chair or program director) the package should include a summary and relevant highlight of supporting materials.

If you are part of the College community (undergrad, grad, faculty, staff, or administrator) and are interested in proposing a name for nomination, please contact your department chair or program director.

Criteria for the Goergen Teaching Awards

The required chair or program director nomination letter should provide a summary and relevant highlights of supporting materials.

Nominations should make a case for the nominee’s distinctive achievement in undergraduate teaching. Students wishing to make nominations are encouraged to work with the nominee’s department to assemble the required information. In addition to the chair or program director's letter, the nomination may include:

• Letters of support from faculty colleagues who have substantial knowledge of the nominee’s teaching or innovation in curricular or pedagogical areas. Please limit these submissions to two.
• Letters from students, teaching assistants, or others who have been influenced by the nominee’s activities. Please limit these submissions to five.
• Other supporting documents highlighting excellence, such as SCOQ results, information about grants related to pedagogy or course development, or other teaching awards.
• The nominee's teaching statement and CV.

All nominations must be submitted to the dean of the College, Jeffrey Runner, no later than Monday, June 3, 2024. The this year's submission period runs from March 25 to June 3, and early submissions are encouraged. The Hajim School Dean, the School of Arts and Sciences Dean, and the Dean of the College shall make the final decision.

The selection committee may make three awards of $15,000 each. The award is presented at the annual Goergen Awards Ceremony in October.

History of the Award

The Goergen Awards were originally three separate awards, presented each year since 1997, and were awarded to members of the College faculty and staff, both individually and collectively who demonstrated the range of contributions to undergraduate learning. In 2010 the Goergen Awards program was redesigned to make larger awards focused exclusively on excellence in undergraduate teaching by individual faculty members.

Award Winners

See the previous award winners page to see recipients prior to 2010.