Nominations: Awards and Honors: Office of University Ceremonies: Indiana University

Thomas Ehrlich Award for Excellence in Service Learning

**Please Note – October 16 Due Date**

The Committee on Service Learning Awards wishes to bring to your attention the opportunity for submitting nominations for the THOMAS EHRLICH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE LEARNING.

The purpose of this award is to recognize excellence in service learning. This faculty award will be made at Founders Day ceremonies and a cash award goes with the certificate. The recipient of the Indiana University Thomas Ehrlich Award for Excellence in Service Learning will become the IU nominee for the national Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Award for Service Learning the following year.

Individuals may make nominations directly to the Committee or they may submit nominations through departmental chairpersons or deans. The committee does not consider visiting or emeriti faculty for this award. The committee considers only tenured full-time faculty (or faculty holding an equivalent appointment in a continuing full-time position) who have taught for five or more years at Indiana University. The following suggestions for evidence are presented for use in preparing the dossier.

To view a list of the previous recipients go here.

General Guidelines

Candidates for this award should provide evidence that they have implemented service learning in a manner consistent with good practice, improved the course, reflected upon it, taken on leadership in their department, campus, and/or discipline and had an impact on students and the community both in and out of the classroom. Outstanding candidates will have supported the integration of community or public service into the curriculum and made efforts to institutionalize service learning.

Outline for Dossier Preparation

In addition to the general guidelines above, an outline of more specific items is given below.

The Committee on Service Learning Awards suggests that supporting documentation be submitted in the following order on as many of the items as appropriate. All material submitted must be placed in a single three‑ring binder. An additional binder may be submitted with supportive evidence, but the case should be made in the main binder. The second binder is for documentation only; the committee cautions against the submission of excess material.

Curriculum vita of the individual being nominated.

Number of years of teaching at Indiana University (include the specific dates) and present position and rank.

Nomination letter or letters. Nominators should substantiate why the person is qualified for the award by references to specific service learning activities.

Courses taught at Indiana University listed by semester and enrollment. (Be sure to include course number and title). Distinguish between undergraduate (lower-level), undergraduate (upper-level), and graduate courses. Indicate service learning classes.

Self‑analysis. The committee considers this statement of self-reflection to be of central importance and gives it much weight in its deliberations. In the statement candidates should discuss their teaching philosophy as it relates to service learning and how it is put into practice. Included should be an account of any efforts undertaken to analyze the service learning activities, with specific reference to self-improvement and student accomplishment in its broadest sense. The statement should be between 5 and 8 pages, double-spaced.

Student evaluations of teaching: include complete summaries of a sample of courses across the teaching career, emphasizing those with a service learning component. Include all student comments for each course selected for evaluation.

Peer evaluations: local and external, solicited and unsolicited. Include the influence of this instructor’s work in service learning on other departmental offerings and on the curriculum.

Administrative evaluations; indicate areas specific to service learning.

Letters from community-based organization(s) describing the contribution made by the students’ community service and the faculty member’s professional service.

Syllabi of courses, with a description of how service learning relates to course goals. Include evidence of the kind of reflection that students perform on their community service and how they are evaluated on this reflection.

Additional supporting materials might include evidence of invitations to be a guest speaker in an area of expertise, leadership in curriculum or course development, publications bearing on teaching service learning, and sustained contributions to a body of knowledge about service learning.

All items should be submitted in a paper format. In addition, items 1, 2, 4, and 5 above (and item 3 if possible) should also be submitted electronically. Please see http://www.indiana.edu/~disteach for information on how to submit requested items electronically.

In order to give the Committee on Service Learning Awards time to consider nominees and make final selections, materials should be sent to the Committee on Distinguished Teaching Awards, University Ceremonies, Board of Trustees Office, IMU M005, IU Bloomington, and submitted electronically, on or before October 16, 2008. If you need additional information, please email disteach@indiana.edu, or call 812-855-3761.