The application process for both the Cunningham and Coffey Outstanding Teaching Awards has been significantly changed this year. Beginning this fall, an awards committee within each academic college will make preliminary selections and forward the names of one nominee for each award to the Office of Research, Grants, and Contracts. One of the reasons for this change was to reduce the initial application burden on the faculty members.

The Award Committee for the College of Engineering and Natural Science has the following membership:

Dr. Carroll E. Slack - Department of Biological Science
Dr. Charles E. Harding - Department of Chemistry
Dr.Corey A. Graves - Department of Engineering
Dr. Michael A. Gibson - Department of Geology, Geography, and Physics
Dr. Bill R. Austin - Department of Mathematics and Statistics

The procedural changes have imposed a very short response time for use this fall. The initial nominations must be submitted to the Dean, College of Engineering and Natural Sciences by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 27th. These nomination packages are expected to include:

1. A letter of nomination from a faculty member or department chair. This letter should address the attributes of the faculty member as applicable to the award criteria.
2. A current vita (format is not important here).
3. Any other pertinent information that the candidate wished to include.

The Dean will contact the final college nominees, explain the nomination and subsequent application process, and verify the nominee's intent to proceed. He will then forward the nominees' signed acceptance of nomination letter along with a completed class schedule form to the Office of Research, Grants, and Contracts by October 8 ,2001. The nominee will then have until October 28th to submit a complete application package to the Office of Research, Grants, and Contracts. During this time the members of the college awards committee will work with the nominees to help them develop a strong and competitive application.

Supportive material relative to these awards will be available in the college office. If you have questions about this process please don't hesitate to contact Linda Davis or myself.