Outstanding SoTL Scholar

Benefits and Expectations

• The scholar will develop and present a workshop on implementing insights from their SoTL research to Georgia Southern faculty and graduate student instructors in the following Fall semester; Faculty Center staff will provide support in developing the workshop.
• The scholar will be asked to submit a presentation proposal to the SoTL Commons Conference. He/she will receive free registration if the presentation is accepted.
• The Outstanding SoTL Scholar will be nominated for the USG Regents’ Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Awards in the following Academic year.
• The scholar will receive $1,000 from the Faculty Center after fulfillment of expectations.

Eligibility

All full-time faculty members (tenured, tenure-track, and lecturers) who have held a teaching position at Georgia Southern University for a minimum of two years may apply for the award. Previous award recipients are not eligible to apply for four years after receiving the award.

Deadline

Applications will open Spring 2023. The deadline to submit is April 30, 2023. The Outstanding SoTL Scholar will be announced May 15, 2023. 

Deadline to submit is April 30, 2023.

Application Format

Nomination portfolios for are limited to 14 pages (1” margins, minimum 12-point font, spacing: 1.5 or double spaced). All materials need to be combined into a single PDF file. Each portfolio must include the following information:

• A Table of Contents for the portfolio. NOTE: The TOC does not count toward the maximum of 14 pages.
• A teaching philosophy statement.
• Narrative that outlines primary research questions and related goals, theories, and methods of SoTL scholarship activities (3-5 pages)
• Data/evidence of the impact of their teaching techniques/pedagogies on student learning and its potential impact on teaching and learning in the discipline. (3-5 pages)
• Condensed curriculum vitae that highlights relevant SoTL presentations, articles and/or publications. (2-3 pages)
• Optional: Copies of 1-2 representative SoTL articles, chapters, essays, etc. may be included as an appendix that will not be counted as part of the maximum page number.

Applicants must submit their application online. Portfolios that exceed 14 pages or do not meet formatting requirements will not be accepted.

Criteria

The review committee is composed of faculty members of the SoTL Leadership Team and Faculty Center staff. The committee will consider the complete body of SoTL work produced by the recipient with special emphasis placed on research completed during the past three years and will look for persuasive evidence that nominees have:

• Engaged in an ongoing, systematic examination of issues about student learning and instructional conditions. (Volume of SoTL work)
• Produced high quality scholarly work, which contributes new questions and knowledge about teaching and learning. (Quality and Significance of SoTL work)
• Documented the use of strategies for investigating and evaluating the impact of teaching practice on student learning, anchored in the research literature. (Application to student learning)
• Engaged in scholarship that is public, peer reviewed and critiqued. (Public dissemination)

Once committee members have reviewed all portfolios, one Outstanding SoTL Scholar will be determined based on the committee’s feedback.

The director of the Faculty Center, or a delegated member of the Faculty Center staff, will work with the committee’s chair to facilitate the entire review and selection process.

Last updated: 2/27/2023