Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award

This application is currently closed. Please check back in fall 2025 for the online application form.

Each year, the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation, through the Office of the Comptroller of the State of Texas, solicits nominations for the Piper Professor Award. The state offers ten awards of $5,000 annually to professors for superior teaching at the college level. Selection is made on the basis of nominations submitted by each college or university in the State of Texas. The focus of the Piper Professor Award is to recognize teaching, rather than scholarship, research, publication, or administration. The roster of Piper Professors includes outstanding professors from two and four-year colleges and universities, public and private.

Each state institution of higher education may submit one (1) nomination. Therefore, a committee comprised of members of the Texas Tech Teaching Academy will review all nominees and recommend one nomination to represent Texas Tech University. Awards will be announced state-wide in May 2025. Recent recipients of the award from TTU include Dom Casadonte, Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry; Debbie Laverie, Professor of Marketing; and Aliza Wong, Professor of History. 

Nomination Guidelines

To identify an institutional nomination from Texas Tech University, we invite each college to submit nominations to the Teaching Academy for initial screening. Please note that this award emphasizes demonstration of the applicant’s teaching effectiveness. The college must also describe the process used to select the applicant. Applicants are asked to describe their teaching philosophy, teaching highlights, and a short personal history. 

Application Materials

• Nomination forms: Please download and fill out the two nomination forms provided by the Texas Comptroller’s Office. Part A in the packet should be completed by the nominating college, except the last field asking for full-time equivalent student enrollment and the administrator signature block. Those will be completed in the Provost’s Office. Part B should be completed by the nominee or representative.

         Part A

         Part B

• Letters of Support: Nominees will also be asked to enter up to five (5) email addresses of reference letter writers. These letters may be from members of the nominee’s administration, colleagues, and/or current and former students. Letters of nomination should be solicited before the application deadline and are to be submitted with the application materials. When filling out the online application, once it is saved as a draft, there is an option to “Send Reference Letter Request” to the letter writers. This will ensure that letters are submitted by the deadline.

Eligibility

Full-time tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure-track teaching faculty (i.e., Professors of Practice and Lecturers) are eligible. 

 

Thank you for participating in this process that can bring recognition to Texas Tech’s commitment to exceptional teaching. Please do not hesitate to contact us for additional information as needed.