Foundation Outstanding Letter of Appointment Instructional Faculty Award

The Faculty Senate Campus Affairs Committee invites nominations for the Foundation Outstanding Letter of Appointment Instructional Faculty Award. This award, funded by the University of Nevada, Reno Foundation, honors and acknowledges excellence at work to recognize and reward exemplary instructional professional employees on letter of appointment (LOA) contracts at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Recognition

To honor the contributions of our teaching faculty on letters of appointment, up to two (2) LOA instructors from each college/school will be recognized each semester as Exceptional Letter of Appointment (LOA) Instructional Faculty for their college or school and will be presented with a certificate. LOAs will receive these awards based on their teaching contributions to the University community. 

Award

From the pool of all recognized LOAs, two award recipients (one in the fall and one in the spring semester) will be selected for recognition at the Honor the Best Ceremony in May. Each of these faculty will also receive a $1,000 monetary award (less tax withholdings) at the end of the corresponding fall/spring semester from the University Foundation and a framed award provided by the Faculty Senate. 

Past award recipients include:

• 2023-24 Fall semester -  Jocelyn Mata
• 2022-23 Fall semester - Antone Dolezal
• 2022-23 Spring semester - Montana Hodges
• 2021-22 Fall semester - Zelalem Bogale
• 2021-22 Spring semester - Katherine LaPierre

Selection criteria

1. The nominee must be a current University of Nevada, Reno employee, teaching on an LOA contract at the time of the nomination. 
2. LOAs may be nominated in each semester per academic year. 
3. The nominee may not have received an Outstanding LOA financial award in the past.

Nominations 

Any University employee can nominate an instructional professional employee on an LOA contract for this prestigious award. Nominations must be submitted to the Faculty Senate Campus Affairs Committee for consideration.

1. Submit a Foundation Outstanding Letter of Appointment Instructional Faculty Award Form to formally nominate an instructional LOA professional employee describing the following for the nominee:
   1. The course(s) taught, noting meaningful and innovative curricula development;
   2. Teaching contribution made to the mission of the department and/or college or school;
   3. Engages students to meet course outcomes and facilitates in-depth learning; 
   4. Creates inclusion through approaches that focus on equity and diversity in their class(s); and
   5. Displays a genuine interest in students' personal development and well-being, especially as it relates to building an inclusive classroom for diverse students. 
   6. Discuss any contributions to the department/university that you would like the awards committee to consider for the nominee.      
2. Attach a copy of at least one syllabus for a class the nominee is currently teaching. 
3. Upload an assignment description of an exemplary assessment developed by the nominee. This may be the whole assignment or a detailed syllabus assignment description. LOAs who direct practicums may add a description of a learning activity developed or supervised by the nominee. Nominees may wish to view the award criteria before choosing which of their assignments to submit as an example of the innovative, inclusive, and excellent assignments they incorporate into their teaching. 

Nomination deadlines

Nominations must be received through electronic form submission, including attachments, by the established deadline for consideration in each semester.

• Fall semester: November 9
• Spring semester: March 4

Multiple submissions for the same instructor will be considered together as one submission. 

Nomination form