International Educator of the Year Awards for Faculty and Staff 2011

Dr. David Sammons, Dean of the International Center

International Educator of the Year Awards:

Beginning in 2004, an award to recognize outstanding international endeavors by UF faculty members and to encourage UF faculty to pursue international activities was created. Subsequently, a new award was created for faculty in junior ranks and in 2010 a new award was added to recognize the many contributions of staff to our campus internationalization priorities.  I write today to invite nominations from all colleges across campus for each of these awards in recognition of outstanding contributions to the internationalization of the campus. Details follow:

Faculty: Each college is asked to submit nominations for the two faculty International Educator of the Year Awards by October 21, 2011.  Colleges are asked to make nominations for two awards-one for junior faculty (untenured or newly tenured) and one for senior faculty.  IFAS, CLAS and the College of Medicine may nominate two people in both categories because of the relatively larger size of those colleges. The winner of each of these two awards will receive $2,000.

Staff:  The staff award recognizes the important contributions of University of Florida staff to the internationalization priorities of the campus. This new award, first made in 2010, is intended to recognize the essential role of UF staff in furthering campus internationalization priorities.  Anyone may nominate a staff member from any unit on campus for this award following the criteria and process described below. Up to two awards may be made in the staff category. The awardees, if more than one, will share equally the $2000 set aside for the staff award(s).  [NOTE: Staff members of the UF International Center are not eligible for the staff award.]

Process: Nominations for each award may be made by anyone on campus (not limited to the unit in which the individual nominee is employed). Each college is free to develop its own review process for submitting nominations for each award; the faculty nominations from each college must be officially transmitted to the UF International Center by the department chair with the endorsement of the dean. Nominations for the staff award may be developed and submitted to the UF International Center directly by the nominator. The nominations, in each case, should consist of a statement of no more than three pages describing the international accomplishments of the faculty or staff member being nominated. Contact information for the nominee and a summary paragraph about him or her should be placed at the beginning of each nomination.  Please do not submit resumes.

Nominations must be received by October 21, 2011. Electronic submissions are preferred but not required. Nomination packets should be directed to:

UF International Center
Attn. Vanessa Fayo (Tel: 273-1536)
170 HUB – P.O. Box 113225 or by email at: vfayo@ufic.ufl.edu

Selection of Winners: A university-wide committee appointed by the Dean of the UF International Center will select the winners for each of the awards. Consideration will be given to the following factors by the award committee:

• Faculty nominations made by department chairs, endorsed by the dean, and reviewed by an awards committee within each college prior to submission to the UF International Center; staff nominations may be submitted by any member of the campus community.  Staff nominations are directly submitted by the nominator.
• The nomination, in each case, should be based primarily on a statement of no more than three pages describing the international accomplishments of the faculty or staff member and the impact of those accomplishments on students, international partners, university stakeholders, and/or the nominee’s discipline.
• Accomplishments must have been within last five (5) years and as a UF faculty or staff member; evidence of sustained international involvement is an important criterion for a strong nomination.
• The awards committee will look for excellence in international contributions in the context of at least two of the following factors:

Research: The extent to which the faculty or staff member’s research made a significant contribution to his/her discipline through the creation or discovery of new knowledge and how that work involved international activities.

Teaching: The extent to which the faculty or staff member’s teaching increased student awareness of international issues and involved them in academic activities abroad. Also, the committee will review the extent to which courses with international content (including study abroad courses) were developed and how that affected the curriculum.

Service: The extent to which the international activities cited in the nomination raised UF’s profile as a globally-engaged university, the benefits derived from them, and documented evidence of such. Significant roles in advising, mentoring, and similar service activities are included in this category as well, especially for those individuals in staff ranks.

The awards will be presented by Dr. Angel Kwolek-Folland, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, at a reception on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 3:30 p.m. in the Keene Faculty Center as part of International Education Week.

For more information, please contact Dr. David Sammons, Dean of the UF International Center, at 273-1536 or sammons@ufl.edu.