Selection committees are currently reviewing the 255 nominations made for the Joyce Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Dockweiler Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising, according to Notre Dame Associate Provost Dennis Jacobs.
The Provost's Office will announce the recipients of the awards in April. Winners of each award will receive a $1,500 cash prize and will be honored for "extraordinary contributions to undergraduate education at Notre Dame," Jacobs said.
Of the 161 nominations received for the Joyce Award, Jacobs said 152 of them came from students. He said that students made 83 of the 94 nominations for the Dockweiler Award.
Jacobs said he especially enjoyed reading the student nominations for the awards.
"I am grateful to the students who submitted nominations for this year's awards," Jacobs said. "It is inspiring to read about how students' lives were touched by faculty members who are deeply committed to offering an outstanding undergraduate education."
Both students and faculty were invited to propose nominations for the Joyce Award, and students, faculty and staff made nominations for the Dockweiler Award, Jacobs said.
Jacobs sent several e-mails to students in the weeks before Spring Break requesting nominations for the awards.
The online nomination form asked students to submit an essay describing why the nominee deserves the award, including specific examples of the nominee's impact on the student's undergraduate experience.
The Joyce Award honors faculty from seven different subject areas: business, engineering, fine arts and architecture, humanities, language and literature, science and social science, Jacobs said.
He said the recipients of the award are faculty members who "create environments that stimulate significant student learning, elevate students to a new level of intellectual engagement and foster students' ability to express themselves effectively within the discipline."
Jacobs said the Dockweiler Award, created through a gift from the Julia Stearns Dockweiler Charitable Foundation, honors three faculty or staff members who advise undergraduate students.
"The Dockweiler Award aims to demonstrate in a tangible way that mentoring, academic advising and career counseling activities are important and valued roles for faculty and staff at Notre Dame," he said.
The Deans of the relevant colleges appointed faculty selection committees for each of the seven subject areas of the Joyce Award. The committees will review the nominations and make recommendations to the Provost's Office, Jacobs said.
The Office of the Provost appointed faculty and staff to a selection committee for the Dockweiler Award. This committee will recommend the top candidates to the Provost's Office, Jacobs said.
