Listed below are the various awards that faculty, students, and staff can be nominated for. Please review each section for further details. 

Faculty Awards

Department of Statistics Award for Excellence in Instruction

The Statistics Department Award for Excellence in Instruction recognizes consistently outstanding instruction by a faculty member of the Statistics department. The award takes a holistic approach to understand how faculty members facilitate learning across undergraduate and graduate-level courses. The award is given annually to one faculty member who has done exemplary teaching.

Prior winners of the Excellence in Instruction award must wait five years before being reconsidered.

Evaluation Criteria

Nominations will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  1. Sustained excellence in teaching inside and outside of the classroom.

  2. Innovative approaches to teaching that incite intellectual curiosity

  3. An overall positive impact on student learning leading to a life-long desire for learning.

  4. Other contributions to improve undergraduate and/or graduate instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: creating inclusive and supportive learning environments; practicing active learning; increasing global and multicultural understanding; improving access and equity; amplifying student portfolios; developing courses and curricula; mentoring graduate teaching assistants; leading workshops on pedagogy; advancing the scholarship of teaching and learning; or making other multidimensional contributions beyond the classroom.
Nomination

An award nomination may be submitted on a perpetual basis by students, faculty members, administrators, or alumni. Each nomination should be submitted to the departmental selection committee via a Teaching Award Nomination form. The nomination must provide evidence satisfying at least one of the elements of the Evaluation Criteria described above. Submitted nominations will only be considered in the year of submission up to the Mid-November deadline. Any nominations sent after the deadline will be considered for next year’s award.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this award, candidates must:

  • Be a faculty member in the Department of Statistics during the previous academic year with at least a 25% appointment.
  • Have at least 4 semesters in residence as a faculty member within Statistics department at the time of nomination without counting the current semester.
  • Taught at least 4 STAT courses or courses cross-listed as STAT courses offered by the Statistics department as a faculty member. They need not be distinct course numbers.
  • Have not won this award in the previous 5 academic years.
Award

The winner will be announced at a departmental picnic (if planned) or alternatively at the Bohrer Workshop and will be awarded with:

  • a one-time contribution of $2,000 to the discretionary spending account of the winner. This contribution will be processed by the end of the academic year upon final selection of awardees.
  • a departmental nomination to the appropriate LAS college award for teaching if eligible (Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education for tenure-track faculty or Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by Instructional Staff for specialized faculty)
  • a personal small trophy or plaque
  • a name plate will be added to a perpetual plaque to be displayed by the department
Selection Committee Composition and Role

The selection committee will be an ad hoc committee chosen by the Executive Committee that includes the winners of the previous three cycles and a student representative from each of the BS, MS and PhD programs. The selection committee will consider the contents of the initial nominations along with the departmentally available ICES scores. By majority vote of the committee, the winner of the annual award will be decided.

Deadlines:

Mid-November: Deadline for nominations to the department selection committee.

Any nominations received after the Mid-November deadline will be considered for the next year’s teaching award.

Early December: Decision on faculty award winner by selection committee. Relevant 2023 College/Campus Deadlines

January 6, 2023 5pm: Deadline for nominations from departments to the college. February 1, 2023: Deadline for college nominations to the campus

Solicitation Policy

The nomination form will be open year-round. The Department will have a process in place to solicit nominations at the end of a semester.

  • Start of the Academic Year: A call to nominate e-mail is sent to Statistics minors, majors, masters, and PhD students alongside of Faculty and Staff through the department’s internal list servs.
  • Mid-October: Reminder e-mail sent to Statistics minors, majors, masters, and PhD students alongside of Faculty and Staff through the department’s internal list servs.
  • End of the Semester: A call to nominate faculty members through all the department channels will be made.
    • Statistics Department’s website under the News section;
    • Statistics Department’s social media channels (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook); and,
    • through a list serv targeting all students enrolled in a Statistics course and alongside of Faculty and Staff.
Non-conflict Policy

Faculty members who have been nominated and are eligible for the award are not allowed to be serving on the departmental selection committee during that same year. Furthermore, faculty members are not permitted to actively solicit students to write and submit nominations on their behalf.

Previous Winners

Karle Flanagan (2023)
Alex Stepanov (2023)
Albert Yu (2024)

Student Awards

The Doctoral Student Teaching Award

The Doctoral Student Teaching Award is meant to honor Statistics Department doctoral students who have done exemplary work as graduate teaching assistants. The award considers all aspects of a student’s graduate TA record of the previous academic year including the summer semester, and will require at least one TA appointment for which ICES ratings are available. Evidence for the award will be taken from ICES scores and consultation with those who supervised the student’s TA appointments the previous year. The executive committee will select the awardees.

Previous Winners:

James Balamuta, 2019
Danielle Sass, 2019
Albert Yu, 2019
Alton Barbehenn, 2020
Theren Williams, 2020
Dongxiao Wu, 2020
Eduardo Cardenas-Torres, 2021
Man Fung Leung, 2022
Peng Xu, 2022
Tianning Xu, 2023
Evangelos Tsiamalos, 2023

The Doctoral Student Leadership and Service Award

The Doctoral Student Leadership and Service Award is meant to honor Statistics Department doctoral students who through their effort, skill and generosity with their time have helped to create a better and more productive environment within the department throughout their time in the doctoral program. It will recognize the cumulative selfless contributions and diverse ways in which students create opportunities for others, assist in the development of their peers, and generally make a better and more stimulating workplace for Statistics students, faculty and staff.

Previous Winners:

Trevor Harris, 2019
Yutong (Jack) Li, 2019
Joshua Loyal, 2020
Robin Tu, 2020
Mehrdad Mohammadi, 2022
Austin Warner, 2022

Staff Awards

LAS Staff Award

LAS Staff Award

In 1993, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences established the LAS Staff Awards to identify and honor selected staff members for their outstanding contributions to the college. The program is sponsored by alumni and friends of the college. Up to three awards may be made annually. The LAS Awards Committee, assisted by two previous winners of this award, will review and rank the nominations received. Final recipient recommendations will be approved by the dean of the college.

Criteria

Nominations will be evaluated in terms of achievement according to the following established criteria:

  1. Demonstrates excellence in overall work performance.
  2. Promotes positive morale through a congenial, supportive attitude and by providing service to others.
  3. Puts forth an effort to improve self as well as to develop and recognize others.
  4. Exhibits initiative and creativity resulting in improved operating efficiency of a work unit or the college as a whole.
  5. Enhances the image of the department and/or college.

Distinctive achievement in all areas will constitute the strongest case for selection. The selection committee will be cognizant, however, of particularly outstanding achievement in any one area.

Award

Recipients will receive a $2,000 award and a commemorative plaque. Both will be presented at an LAS Awards Reception in late February or early March.

Eligibility

A nominee must be a full-time staff employed within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences for at least three years by the nomination deadline. Recipient must be employed in LAS at time of reception. A person who receives any LAS College Award will not be eligible for nomination for a second college award during the next 10-year period. Nominations of employees in all staff classifications are encouraged (i.e., storekeeper, clerical, maintenance worker).

Nomination

Nominations for these awards may be made by any member of the campus community (staff, faculty, or student), but must be endorsed by the executive officer of the nominee's unit. All nominations must be submitted on the official LAS nomination form. All materials must be typed in 12 point, Times New Roman font, single-spaced. A copy of the official campus Chancellor's Distinguished Staff Award Program nomination form is also allowed if used with the LAS nomination form.

Those making a nomination for the LAS Staff Awards should submit all of the following:

  1. LAS Staff Awards nomination form
  2. Nominee's job description (please limit to one page)
  3. Narrative of approximately three-pages describing how the nominee fulfills the stated criteria listed on the reverse side (indicate specific activities or programs in which your candidate has excelled)
  4. Three letters of recommendation

All re-nominations require submission of an updated narrative as well as a new nominating form.

Please see the LAS website for further details on deadlines.