President’s Outstanding Core Curriculum Teaching Award
Application Form
Nominee Information:
Name: __________________________________________Title__________________________
College: ______________________________________________________________________
Department: ___________________________________________________________________
Campus Phone: ____________________Campus E-mail: ________________________________
Is the nominee a previous recipient of the President’s Outstanding Core Curriculum Teaching Award?
Yes What year did s/he receive the award?
No
* Core Course(s) Taught In the 2015 Calendar Year:
Course Prefix & #
Course Title
Core Component(s)
* If more than one core course was taught, include materials for the one that best depicts your
commitment to the core.
College Information:
College: _______________________________________________________________________
Dean’s Office Phone: ____________________E-mail:___________________________________
This nominee is eligible for consideration of this award.
Dean’s Signature: _______________________________________________________________
Completed nomination packets should be uploaded to Rowdy Space by the Dean’s Office.
DEADLINE: Same as all other President’s Distinguished Achievement Awards.
Eligibility for Award:
Faculty nominated must have taught at least four consecutive regular semesters (Fall-Spring) at UTSA.
The awards are based on performance for the calendar year of the award. For example, to be eligible
you must have taught consecutively since January, 2014 and have taught at least one core course in the
2015 calendar year. Priority will be given to candidates who have not previously won the award.
Previous recipients of the President’s Outstanding Core Curriculum Teaching Award will be eligible for
nomination after seven years.
Criteria:
The nominee must demonstrate excellence in CORE curriculum teaching in the following areas:
 innovation and rigor in the classroom
1


a strong commitment to the aims and objectives of the core curriculum* through innovative
course development, assignments, and assessment
positive student response to and engagement with his/her instruction
A complete Core Course Portfolio will include the following items contained in one pdf
document (in this order):
1. Completed application form
2. Nomination Letter from the nominee’s Department Chair that speaks specifically to staterequired Core Curriculum objectives (as outlined below) *
3. Core Teaching Self-Statement (maximum of two pages) that specifically addresses
A. how the aims and state-required objectives of the Core Curriculum were addressed (as
stated below),
B. how innovation and rigor were manifested in the course, and
C. how student responded to your instruction.
Note that the Award Selection Committee will place heavy emphasis on the self-statement and the
faculty member’s commitment to the Core Curriculum.
4. At least one third-party observation of your teaching a core class. (Contact the Faculty Center at
http://faculty.utsa.edu/services/classroom-observations to schedule your teaching
observation.)
5. Applicable core course grade distributions, student evaluations of core course(s) including
statistical summaries, and student comments for the last academic year,
6. A syllabus for a core course from the award year corresponding to the student evaluations and
summary (above),
7. Sample core course materials that best exemplify the student learning experience (e.g.: sample
student assignment and assessment, including exams and/or rubrics),
8. Curriculum Vita
No additional materials should be submitted. Incomplete portfolios will not be considered.
* Goals of the Core Curriculum (as stated in the Undergraduate Catalog, pg. 4-5)
The Core Curriculum reflects the educational goals of the University. It is designed to enable students to
assess the perspectives and accomplishments of the past and to move to the future with an informed
and flexible outlook. It promotes intellectual adaptability, ethical awareness, and transfer among diverse
modes of thought. An essential aim of the Core Curriculum is to cultivate the verbal, numerical, and
visual skills necessary to analyze and synthesize information, construct arguments, and identify and
solve problems. Another essential aim is to foster understanding of the intellectual and cultural
pluralism of modern society as it is reflected in natural science and mathematics; behavioral, cultural,
and social science; and literature and artistic expression. By encouraging interdisciplinary study, the
Core Curriculum seeks to develop critical awareness of the continuities and discontinuities of human
thought, history, and culture, thus helping prepare students to meet the demands of change.
* STATE-REQUIRED OBJECTIVES
Component
Critical
Thinking
Communication
Skills
Communication
Mathematics
Life & Phys SCI
Lang, PHIL & Cult
Creative Arts
Am History
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Empirical
& Quant
Skills
Teamwork
Social
Responsibility
X
X
X
X
X
X
2
Personal
Responsibility
X
X
X
X
X
Gov’t-Poli SCI
Social & Beh SCI
X
X
X
X
X
3
X
X
X