Office of the Provost

Christopher Newport is proud to celebrate with the winners of the following international and national awards:

• Dr. Rosa Motta, $10,500 Shohet Grant, International Catacomb Society (Harvard)
• Professor Denise Gillman, Association for Theatre in Higher Education and Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival Prize for Teaching Innovation for Region IV (The first professor to ever be honored with this recognition)
• Dr. Michaela Meyer, Three Top Paper Awards in the areas of Women’s Caucus, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity, and Popular Culture, Central States Communication Association
• Dr. Lisa Spiller, National Case Competition of the Jacobs & Clevenger Case Writers’ Workshop, Silver Award
• Dr. Sharon Rowley, National Endowment for the Humanities $250,000 grant award
• Dr. Patricia Hopkins, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty
• Dr. Elizabeth Morán, Fulbright-García Robles Award, Mexico
• Dr. Laura Puaca, AAUW Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship
• Dr. Sharon Rowley, NEH Fellowship and Visiting Fellowship at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, U.K.
• Dr. Henry Booker, Fulbright Scholar Award to teach economics in Azerbaijan

The Outstanding Faculty Awards are the highest honor for faculty at Virginia's public and private colleges and universities. These awards recognize superior accomplishments in teaching, research and public service.

Previous awardees are as follows:

• Dr. Tarek Abdel-Fattah, 2024, Chemistry
• Dr. John Finn, 2024, Geography
• Dr. Margarita Marinova, 2023, English
• Dr. Kelly Cartwright, 2023, Psychology
• Dr. Jonathan White, 2019, Leadership and American Studies
• Dr. Quentin Kidd, 2014, Political Science
• Dr. Tracey Schwarze, 2007, Emerita, English
• Dr. Harold Cones, 2000, Emeritus, Biology
• Dr. Susan St. Onge, 1997, Emerita, French

In 2007 the Christopher Newport Alumni Society created the annual Alumni Society Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring. It is designed to honor faculty who are exceptionally committed to teaching and learning excellence and to university citizenship.

The dean of each college/school is responsible for selecting one faculty member from her or his respective college/school and submitting to the vice provost for undergraduate education who oversees this award process. The vice provost will submit the nominees to the director of alumni relations and the chair of the Alumni Society committee who then interview the top candidates and select the winner.

Each dean’s nominee receives a $500 stipend from the Alumni Society. The winner of the award is announced at Honors Convocation, and receives a stipend of $2,000 (in addition to the initial $500 award).

Criteria and documentation: (All matters of interpretation of these provisions shall be decided by the vice provost). To be considered, individuals must, in the academic year of consideration, be serving as full-time, salaried members of the CNU instructional faculty and must be in no less than their seventh year of teaching at Christopher Newport. Nomination packages will include a letter of support outlining the reasons for the nomination and attesting to the quality of the nominee’s record from the academic dean. The nominee will assemble and submit a package of supporting documentation that shall include the following:

1. A 1,000-word essay as to why the nominee should be selected as the winner. This is a 3-to–5-page statement of accomplishment that demonstrates evidence of outstanding performance and addresses the candidate’s educational philosophy. The statement should emphasize involvement/participation, effectiveness/success, impact/achievement and recognition/acknowledgement in

   • Teaching (instruction and student development)
   • Mentoring (formal and informal guidance of students outside the classroom)
   • Integration of knowledge (curricular development/connections between teaching and discovery)
   • Service (institutional/public/community)

2. A one-page list of activities that support the above mentioned criteria

3. Four letters of recommendation to include one from a colleague, one from a student, one from an alumnus/a and and from a person of the nominee’s choosing.

4. Any additional evidence the nominee wishes to provide: summaries of teaching evaluations, etc. Quantitative information is encouraged here (no more than four pages).

Timeline for 2022 Award

Previous winners

• Dr. Margarita Marinova, 2023
• Dr. Kelly Cartwright, 2022
• Dr. John Finn, 2021
• Dr. Kip Redick, 2020
• Dr. William Donaldson, 2019
• Dr. Laura Puaca, 2018
• Dr. Nathan Busch, 2017
• Dr. Jon White, 2016
• Dr. Andrew Falk, 2015
• Dr. Linda Waldron, 2014
• Dr. Graham Schweig, 2013
• Dr. Elizabeth Kaufer Busch, 2012
• Dr. Mark U. Reimer, 2011
• Dr. Edward J. Brash, 2010
• Dr. Michaela Meyer, 2009
• Dr. Quentin Kidd, 2008
• Dr. Lisa Spiller, 2007

The Provost and the Faculty Senate initiated three faculty awards (in teaching, scholarship, and service) in 2011-12. A fourth award in interdisciplinarity – suggested by faculty and generously supported by the University Librarian – was introduced in 2018-2019. A fifth award, for excellence in diversity, equity and inclusion, was established in the 2021-2022 academic year. These five awards join the annual CNU Alumni Society Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring (which has been granted since 2007) to recognize the most recent accomplishments of the CNU faculty since August 2021.

Eligibility

All full-time and part-time faculty are eligible for the awards. Recipients of the award in one category are not eligible to apply again for that same award for a period of three years; recipients of one category are welcome to apply for awards in other categories at any time. Each award carries a $2,000 stipend and is recognized by a certificate presented by the provost during his general faculty meeting at Getting Started Week.

Application Materials

Application materials should highlight the following areas of expertise from the previous three (3) years only. We encourage you to provide not only a listing of your accomplishments as it relates to valued items on the university Eval-4 criteria, but an explanation as to how the work specifically exemplifies excellence within or across the disciplines. Selected criteria include, but are not strictly limited to:

• Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching
  • Teaching Development (e.g. classroom skills measured by IDEA, peer review)
  • Teaching Enhancement (e.g. attending teaching conferences; study abroad, honors program)
  • Research and Creative Activities with Students (e.g.. conference presentations, invited performances; publications with students; research assistants)
  • Mentoring Students (e.g. advising graduate student thesis; career development, graduate school mentoring)
• Faculty Excellence Award in Scholarship
  • Independent Research or Creative Work (e.g. book, journal article, performance, exhibition of artwork)
  • Disciplinary Expertise at the National or International Level (e.g. journal editor, grant reviewer, invited speaker)
• Faculty Excellence Award in Service
  • Campus Citizen (e.g. Department chair, committee work, advising)
  • Service to the Discipline (e.g. journal editor; officer in discipline specific organization; manuscript reviewer)
  • Service to the Commonwealth and Beyond (e.g.. Executive leadership; Public lectures; Community service)
• Faculty Excellence Award in Interdisciplinarity (in Teaching, Scholarship, or Service)
  • Teaching, scholarship, and/or service that is demonstrably interdisciplinary (e.g. team-teaching across departments, articles co-authored with scholars from another discipline, service on academic committees that depend on multiple disciplinary perspectives)
  • Collaborations of an academic nature across the disciplines (e.g. creating new interdisciplinary academic programs, participating in public presentations that feature different disciplinary perspectives, submitting grant proposals with representatives from different disciplines)
  • Service to interdisciplinary programs, publications, and initiatives, whether on campus or beyond (e.g. serving as Director of Interdisciplinary Studies, performing as editor of an explicitly interdisciplinary journal, publishing letters to the public on behalf of interdisciplinarity as an ideal
• Faculty Excellence Award in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Teaching and/or researching areas that expands and embraces one’s understanding of DEI issues.
  • Mentoring students whose background, experiences, and interests contribute to diversity on campus.
  • Engaging in scholarship/creative activity that advances their field in terms of DEI.
  • Collaborating with campus or community groups in the creation, sponsorship, and implementation of programs, initiatives or projects on DEI issues.
  • Developing or enhancing activities that build community within and among diverse groups of students, staff, and faculty.
  • Designing activities to recruit and retain students and faculty who increase the diversity of our university, or to help ensure the success of our students and professional development of faculty.

Application materials should be submitted as a single pdf file via Watermark and include the following:

1. A cover letter by the applicant containing a narrative explaining and detailing the excellence of the applicant’s interdisciplinarity, service, teaching or scholarship limited exclusively to the past three academic years, highlighting the criteria listed above (3-4 pages);

2. An abbreviated curriculum vitae highlighting relevant teaching, scholarship, interdisciplinarity or service (1-2 pages);

3. A peer letter of support invited by the applicant (maximum 500 words; CNU faculty other than the Chair or Dean or an academic scholar from another university).

Application Process

The Faculty Senate puts out a call for nominations at the start of spring semester (self-nominations are accepted). Candidates submit their application materials electronically to the department chair via Watermark by the deadline listed on the Provost’s website. The department chair provides a statement of support via Watermark for each applicant and, in the event that more than one person in the department has been nominated for the same award, a ranking of the candidates. The appropriate Dean provides a ranking of the candidates for each award category via Watermark. The Senate Subcommittee on Faculty Excellence Awards reviews the applications and writes a memorandum nominating a winner in each category of excellence and providing a brief rationale for each nomination. The Faculty Senate President sends the memorandum by email to the Provost within one week after the Senate votes on its recommendations. The Provost reviews all of the materials submitted and makes the final decision on granting the awards.

Deadlines for 2025

Note: All deadlines are at 11:59 p.m.

Past Faculty Excellence Award Winners

The Division of Graduate Studies and the Office of the Provost are happy to announce information regarding the 2024 Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring. This award is for a full- or part-time graduate faculty member who has had an exceptional impact on graduate students through supervision of their research or professional practice. Nominations may be from students, colleagues or oneself. The award will cover graduate mentoring for the past three years.

Deadlines

Note: All deadlines are at 5 p.m.

Review Process

A committee consisting of the four graduate program directors or a representative from their program will review the applications, and make a recommendation to the dean of graduate studies. The dean will then communicate her recommendation to the provost.

Eligible faculty will be asked for a list of 3-5 graduate students. Letters from those students will be requested and used as a major consideration in the award decision process.

Each award carries a $2,000 stipend, and will be recognized by a certificate presented by the provost during his general faculty meeting at Getting Started Week.

Application Materials

Application materials should include:

• A cover letter by the applicant containing a narrative explaining the excellence of the applicant’s contribution to graduate mentoring and the graduate program (maximum three pages), including any publications or presentations with graduate student authors
• A peer letter of support invited by the applicant that addresses the nominee’s graduate mentoring and contributions to the graduate program (maximum two pages)
• Letters from graduate students; these will be requested by the Office of Graduate Studies from the list of names provided by the nominee

Past Faculty Excellence Award Winners

The objectives of the faculty development program are to improve instructional effectiveness and promote the professional development of faculty members.

In the spring of 2013, the senior class collected a record amount of support from their peers, parents and friends and created a new faculty support fund, the Class of 2013 Faculty Development Fund, as their senior class gift.

The motivation for creating this fund was to establish a tangible way to say thank you to faculty mentors who changed their lives. Faculty members who demonstrate a record of student mentoring and excellence in service to the campus community are eligible to receive a $1,000 award* that can be used to support professional development and/or student mentoring. Six faculty members will be chosen to each receive $1,000. No more than two faculty members may be chosen from each academic college/school.

“By way of the Faculty Development Fund, the Class of 2013 hopes, in some measure, to acknowledge the priceless lessons they have learned in and out of the classroom at CNU, and express their appreciation for the contributions and mentorship of CNU’s faculty.”

2021 Awardees

• Kelly Cartwright, College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences
• Jeffrey Gibbons, College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences
• Todd Goen, College of Social Sciences
• Robert Hasbrouck, Luter School of Business
• Sean Heuvel, College of Social Sciences
• John Nichols, College of Arts and Humanities

This award is sponsored annually by the provost’s office and the University Writing Council. The contest is open to all faculty with winners receiving a cash prize.

This award is given to faculty members whose devotion to undergraduate writing embodies the goals and ideals of the liberal arts tradition through writing assignment design, treatment of writing as a developmental process, and the use of written feedback and evaluation of writing. This effective writing pedagogy makes this faculty member an energetic champion of writing.

Deadline for application: April 1, 2021

Please submit all materials as a single PDF to writingprogram.council@cnu.edu.

Faculty wishing to be considered for this award should include the following items:

• 500-word statement that addresses the following criteria:
  • Treats the teaching of writing as an ongoing process of knowledge articulation where improvement is gained through informal and formal preparatory activities, multiple drafts, iterations, and revisions.
  • Offers continual and diverse opportunities for feedback from written comments, conferencing with instructor, peer review sessions, and appointments with consultants in the Writing Center.
  • Evaluates written assignments by clearly established criteria, using rubrics or other assessment tools. Evaluations consider audience awareness, proper contextualization of issue, salient writing style appropriate for discipline, thoughtful organization, employment of discipline-specific discourse and conventions, and an appropriate understanding of grammar and mechanics.
  • Encourages and mentors students to continue developing papers and projects past the scope of a class, for example, to submit for publication, to enter graduate school and to pursue a career.

• Two evaluated student papers from one class, including your feedback on multiple stages and revisions (with student names omitted).

• Syllabus, assignments and rubrics corresponding to submitted student papers.

• Two student recommendations that address your approach to teaching writing, including assignment creation, feedback, grading / evaluation criteria, and help beyond the class with writing. Recommendations may come from either current students or alumni of classes from the previous two years. (Recommendations do not need to be from the authors of the submitted student papers.)

Applications should only include evidence from a single course taught within the previous two academic years.

Please submit all materials in one PDF (with the exception of recommendation letters).