Metcalf Awards
Metcalf Cup and Prize & Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching
Students, alumni, and members of the faculty at Boston University are invited to recommend candidates for the 2010 Metcalf Cup and Prize and for the Metcalf Awards for Excellence in Teaching.
The Cup and Prize and the Awards were established in 1973 by a gift from the late Dr. Arthur G. B. Metcalf to create "a systematic procedure for the review of the quality of teaching at Boston University and the identification and advancement of those members of the faculty who excel as teachers." Excellence in teaching requires mastery of the subject matter, lucidity of exposition, and thorough, thoughtful evaluation of student work.
The Metcalf Committee is made up of several past winners of the Metcalf Prize or Awards, two undergraduate students, and is chaired by the Associate Provost of undergraduate Education. Over the course of the year, the committee solicits statements from the candidates on their approaches to teaching, reviews student evaluations and grading patterns, examines course syllabi and graded assignments, and seeks additional letters of recommendation from current and former students. The members of the committee visit the classes of the finalists and, in the spring, present their recommendations to the University's president.
To be eligible, a faculty member must
- have held a full-time, continuing appointment on the teaching faculty for not less than six semesters;
- not be currently under review for promotion or tenure
- not be on sabbatical leave, or leave of absence
- not be a previous winner of the Metcalf Cup and Prize
- not hold an administrative appointment
- lecturers are eligible.
The Provost's Office verifies the eligibility of those who are recommended. Each of the eligible candidates is asked to provide the committee with a curriculum vitae and a statement about his or her teaching. From among these candidates, the committee selects semifinalists who are asked to provide additional documentation, and classroom vists are scheduled. After further evaluation, the committee submits its list of finalists to the President. The Cup and Prize and the Awards are presented annually at Commencement.
The deadline for receipt of letters is generally in October for awards presented at Commencement the following May. This year's deadline is Friday, October 16, 2009.
Letters of recommendation should be sent to:
Metcalf Committee
Office of the Provost
One Silber Way, 8th floor
Boston, MA 02215
