Call for Nominations: 2025 MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award

ATTENTION:

Deans, Department Chairs, Graduate Students

Nominations are being accepted for the 2025 MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award competition. This Teaching Award is very competitive, so we are looking for exceptional PhD and Master’s students with great demonstration of teaching competence and knowledge of pedagogy, innovative teaching/instructional design, effective mentoring skills, and commitment to teaching professional development as outlined in the documents here: 2025 MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award

The Nomination Process is as follows: 

Preselection Checklist:

  • Evidence of Excellence in Teaching (incl. evaluations), and/or a university, departmental or other teaching award 
  • Evidence of Course Design for improved student learning (incl. objectives, course organization, content, learning activities, assessments) 
  • Evidence of Effective Mentoring (various levels) 
  • Evidence of Professional Development (CCT, GTA Workshops, Dept. Workshops, Teaching Fellowships incl. Teaching Projects, etc.) 
  • Photos, video footage, etc., to demonstrate student engagement & learning to put together a 10-minute video.

Please review the detailed Evaluation Criteria here:  MAGS 2025 Excellence in Teaching Evaluation Criteria

If you intend to nominate a Graduate Student who meets the criteria above, please contact Dr. Stefanie Baier at stbaier@msu.edu referring to the checklist. The Graduate School can also provide help with creating the video.

Compilation of materials and final nominations: 

  1. Nominators complete nomination packets together with the nominees on or before January 2, 2025, and send these to Dr. Stefanie Baier:  stbaier@msu.edu
  2. An Ad Hoc committee (tbd) will review the nomination packages based on the specified criteria including a 10-minute teaching-in-action video and check for completion. (See https://mags-net.org/excellence-in-teaching-award/) 
  3. One Master's and one PhD student will be selected, and nominators will be notified of the status of the applications by January 6, 2025 with comments and recommendations for any additional improvements.
  4. The Graduate School will submit the final application packets to MAGS on January 21, 2025.

We know there are amazing graduate educators at MSU, and we look forward to having these enter the award competition. For any questions, please e-mail Dr. Stefanie Baier at stbaier@msu.edu.