ACADEMIC, APPELLATE, AND SENATE
COMMITTEE
ANNUAL REPORT
2007-2008 Academic Year
COMMITTEE: Academic
Awards
1. Membership
(include ex-officio members).
Caviness, James (SGA rep)
Christie, Jessica (secretary)
Dimova, Slobodanka
Dragon, Patricia (chair)
Jantzen, Chris
Powers, Rebecca
2. Meeting Dates (include members present*).
* and members who contributed to
committee action, but were not at the meeting.
9/6/07 Rodger Belman,
Jessica Christie, Dot Clayton, Slobodanka Dimova, Patricia Dragon, Paul
Gemperline, Chris Jantzen, Dorothy Muller, Rebecca Powers, Mark Taggart,
Jennifer Williams
10/4/07 Meeting cancelled
11/1/07 Patricia Dragon, Paul Gemperline, Chris Jantzen, Bob
Lust, Rebecca Powers
12/6/07 Meeting cancelled
2/7/08 James Caviness,
Jessica Christie, Slobodanka Dimova, Patricia Dragon, Paul Gemperline, Chris
Jantzen, Bob Lust, Dorothy Muller, Rebecca Powers, Jennifer Williams
3/6/08 Jessica Christie, Slobodanka Dimova,
Patricia Dragon, Chris Jantzen, Dorothy Muller, Rebecca Powers
4/3/08 Meeting cancelled
3. Subcommittees
established during the year (include progress and/or completion of work).
All subcommittees
completed their review of portfolios and award selections on time.
2007/2008 ECU Award for Excellence in Research/Creative
Activity
Subcommittee
Members:
Rodger Belman, Jim Chandler, Paul
Gemperline, Chris Jantzen, Bob Lust (chair), Rebecca Powers, Jennifer Williams
Reviewed five
nominees for the five year achievement award and one for the lifetime
achievement award. Selected two winners for
five year achievement award.
Determined that credentials of current year nominee
for lifetime award was not consistent with previous years’ recipients,
and recommended that lifetime achievement award not be given this year.
2007/2008 Alumni and University Awards
for Outstanding Teaching and the Robert L. Jones Award Subcommittee
Members: Rodger Belman, Slobodanka Dimova (chair),
Patricia Dragon, Liz Ellerbe (Representative of Alumni Relations), Claudio
Sibata (Representative of Interim Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences), Cheryl
Stevens (Representative of Interim Provost of Academic and Student Affairs)
Reviewed 18 nominees and selected 8
finalists and three winners.
2007/2008 Max Ray Joyner Award for
Faculty Service Through Continuing Education
Subcommittee
Members: Jessica Christie,Paul Gemperline,Clayton
Sessoms (Representative of Division of Continuing Studies),Karen Vail Smith
(Representative of Interim Provost of Academic and Student Affairs)
Jennifer Williams (chair),Xiaoming Zeng (Representative of Interim Vice Chancellor
for Health Sciences)
Reviewed seven nominees and selected
three finalists and one winner.
2007/2008 Board of Governors Award for Excellence in
Teaching
(not an AAC subcommittee, but AAC
supplies members to assist in their
deliberations):
AAC members: Chris Jantzen,Bob Lust
Reviewed three nominees and made
recommendation.
2007/2008 Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for
Teaching
(not an AAC subcommittee, but AAC
supplies members to assist in their
deliberations):
AAC members: Slobodanka Dimova,Rebecca Powers
Reviewed 15 nominees and made
recommendations.
4. Accomplishments during the year, especially as addressed
through
committee goals. Please include recommendations made to any
University agency other than the
We were again gratified by the quality of the applications,
and delighted to be in a position to recognize and reward excellence in the
endeavors of our faculty colleagues.
Most of our work gets done in subcommittees, and the chair is thankful
again for the eager and responsible service on the part of our members, with
particular reference to the subcommittee chairs.
One goal we had this year was to improve communication with
the nominees regarding receipt of portfolios and status of their
candidacy. We were able to achieve this
goal only through the superb efforts of Lori Lee and Dorothy Muller, who
between them contacted all the nominees to acknowledge receipt of their
portfolios, contacted finalists to request CDs/DVDs, contacted all
non-finalists, and ultimately the non-winners, to let them know they were not
selected and arrange for the return of their materials. Thanks to Lori and Dorothy for keeping the
communication flowing.
Another goal we had was to acknowledge the research award
winners in the academic year that the awards are conferred. Until this year, winners were not publicly
acknowledged and given the opportunity to present their research until the following
academic year, and the extremely long time-line led to confusion and
frustration. Again we were able to meet
this goal only through the efforts of others, in this case the Office of the
Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, who gracefully agreed to
double-up presentations by last year’s and this year’s winners during research
week in March 2008, in order to “catch up.”
In order to continue to publicly acknowledge the research
award winners during research week in late March, the selection procedures for
these awards (
5. Reports to
the
4/22/08
Academic Awards Committee Response to the UNC Tomorrow Report
6. Business
carried over to next year (list in priority order). None.
7. Evaluation of
the committee (include anything that hindered or assisted the committee's work
during the year).
A.
Charge: The charge is clear.
B.
Personnel: The members of the committee are
knowledgeable and eager to work.
C.
Attendance: All members contributed generously of their
time to accomplish their subcommittees’ tasks.
Attendance at full committee meetings, however, sometimes struggled to
meet quorum. Members are urgently
requested to make arrangements to attend all committee meetings.
D.
Responsibilities: Members of the research awards subcommittee
expressed concerns about how to evaluate the "impact" on their
respective fields of candidates nominated for research awards, particularly
when the candidates come from such a huge variety of disciplines. The
group suggested that writers of nomination letters and letters of
recommendation should be asked to address "impact in the field." It was also suggested that in the future, the
research award subcommittee may be formed based upon the expertise of committee
members in relation to the disciplines of the nominees for that year.
E.
Activities:
As always, we appreciated the impeccable assistance of Lori Lee as we pursued
our activities for the year.
8. Suggestion(s) to the Chair of the Faculty and/or
The selection procedures for the teaching awards need to
have more definite deadlines for the work performed by the Academic Awards
Committee. Because of the need to
prepare certificates, engraved plates, and programs for the teaching awards
ceremony in late April, the teaching award subcommittees should complete their
work at the latest by March 15 (March 1 if possible).
9. Does the Committee’s organizational meeting next year need to be
earlier than the date set this year? No.
Signed:
Chairperson: Patricia
Dragon
Secretary: Jessica Christie