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Meigs teaching award is elevated to professorship |
| By Sharron Hannon |
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| The Josiah Meigs Award for Excellence
in Teaching is now the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship. The announcement of the change was made by Arnett C. Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, at a recent dinner celebrating the fifth anniversary of UGA’s Teaching Academy. “It is fitting, I believe, to announce formally the happy conclusion of an initiative that several of those present have been advocating for some time,” Mace said at the dinner. “This action will help the University of Georgia clearly communicate its commitment to excellence in instruction. It will convey the centrality of teaching to the university’s mission, and it will articulate the value that the University of Georgia places on the learning experiences of our students.” The board of regents agreed with a proposal from the university that the new title be awarded to future recipients of the Meigs teaching honor as well as retroactively to prior Meigs award recipients who are still active members of the faculty, Mace said. “Elevating the Meigs award to a distinguished teaching professorship sends a very positive message about the importance of teaching at UGA,” says Joe Broder, chair of the executive committee of the Teaching Academy. “The title provides continuous recognition for these faculty members who have been honored for the great job they do in the classroom.” The proposal to create the Meigs Professorship was put forward by the Teaching Academy and later endorsed by the 13-member Faculty Awards Review Committee, formed by the provost in 2002 to look systematically at the university’s major recognitions for faculty achievement. Dan T. Coenen, J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law, chaired the awards review committee. He says that creation of the Meigs Professorship was “carefully considered and unanimously -supported by a distinguished and representative group of senior University of Georgia faculty and administrators, including past recipients of the University Professorship, the Regents Professorship and the Distinguished Research Professorship.” The Meigs award is considered the highest honor for distinguished teaching at UGA and carries with it a permanent base salary increase of $6,000 and an award of $1,000 in discretionary funds for one year. Funding for the awards comes from the provost’s office. Each school and college may put forward one nomination per year, though larger schools and colleges are allowed additional nominations. A committee of faculty and students then chooses up to five recipients, who are honored at the annual Faculty Recognition Banquet held each spring. Since the Meigs awards are designed to recognize continued quality instruction, nominees must have held tenure-track faculty positions for at least five years. This year’s nominations from the schools and colleges are due in the provost’s office by Jan. 7. For more details on the criteria for the award and the nomination process, see the “awards” section of the academic affairs Web site, www.uga.edu/provost. |
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