Texas Tech University

Teaching Academy Membership Nominator/Recommender Guidelines

This application is now closed. Please check back in Spring 2025 for information and the online application link.

This year's nomination and recommendation letters are due by Friday, March 22nd at 5:00pm.

Please note that Teaching Academy applicants must begin the application process before recommenders can submit their recommendations. Once an applicant submits your name, you will be emailed a recommendation code and a URL for online recommendation submission.

Current Teaching Academy members may nominate or recommend only one candidate each year for consideration. Recommendation letters should not exceed 2 pages. Letters received for more than one candidate as well as those that do not conform to the page limit will be excluded from the review process; therefore, those candidates will not be considered for membership.

Recommendation letters should be specifically crafted to address the qualifications of the nominee with respect to the mission of the Teaching Academy and the membership criteria described below. Please emphasize your personal knowledge of the nominee's evidence of teaching excellence, service, and advocacy for teaching excellence by going beyond the information presented in the nominee's application.

New Member Selection Criteria

  • Teaching Academy Nomination and Recommendation letters (10%):  Applicants must have letters of recommendation from the nominator and one other current member of the Teaching Academy (Note: Teaching Academy members may support only one candidate per year)
  • Strength of Teaching Philosophy (15%) – How does the candidate's philosophy guide her or his teaching?
  • Evidence the applicant advocates for teaching excellence (15%) What has the candidate done to speak for or represent a positive message about teaching?  Examples of evidence may include:
    • Participation in university teaching projects (Open Teaching Concept)
    • Participation in multi-institutional teaching projects (Transparency Project)
    • Membership in teacher-focused organization
    • Participation in teaching related forums (on and off campus)
    • Applying for/received teaching award
    • Attending TLPDC presentations
    • Attending conferences related to teaching (Burns Conference, Advancing Teaching and Learning Conference)
  • Evidence the applicant promotes service related to the teaching mission (15%): Examples of evidence may include:
    • Peer reviews for faculty
    • Service to teaching related communities
    • Reviewer for teaching related conference/journal
    • Judges/evaluates participants of teaching programs (TEACH Program presentations)
  • Evidence the applicant shares knowledge about teaching strategies and their implementation (15%): Describe the nominee's current service and other activities (within the past 5 years) related to advocacy for teaching excellence beyond the classroom.  Examples of evidence may include: 
      • Presented a workshop about teaching
      • Published an article about teaching
      • Written an opinion article
      • Mentored a novice faculty in teaching
      • TeMPO participant
      • Presented a TLPDC workshop
      • Mentored graduate students
      • Led graduate student development presentations
  • Evidence of Teaching Excellence (15%): Examples of evidence may include:
    • Peer observations
    • Creative assignments
    • Sample syllabus or an excerpt from a sample syllabus
    • Descriptions of innovative techniques
    • Course/curriculum development
    • Experiential learning (Service Learning)
    • Recognition received for teaching excellence/awards received
  • Evidence of teaching excellence from students (15%):  Examples of evidence may include:
    • Course/section number and name
    • Designation as undergraduate or graduate level enrollment
    • Responses from student evaluations for each course/section
    • Evaluation response rate (including the number of students responding, total number of students in the class, and response percentage)
    • Departmental and college comparisons.
    • (Please do not include raw data. You may also include up to three letters from former students.) 

2023-2024 Committee Members
Joel Velasco (Chair)
Stephanie Lockwood
Matt Heart
Jon McNaughtan
Michael Giesselman
Sarai Brinker
Julie Chang
Robert Peaslee
BIll Gelber
Karen Spears
Lisa Low

If you have any questions about this process, please contact the committee chair, Joel Velasco. For questions about the online application, please contact Kerri Pike.

Teaching Academy

  • Address

    University Library Building, Room 136, Mail Stop 2044, Lubbock, TX 79409-2004
  • Phone

    806.742.0133
  • Email

    tlpdc@ttu.edu