Meredith Professorships mark 10th year, seek new nominees

Meredith Professorships mark 10th year, seek new nomineesNovember 10, 2005Matthew R. Snydermrsnyder@syr.edu

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, one of Syracuse University’s most remarkable competitions will hit its full stride. It is the final day of the nomination period for the 2006-09 class of the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professors for Teaching Excellence, and the beginning of work for a diverse selection committee of faculty from across campus. The committee, led this year by Associate Professor Donald Carr, will review the works of SU’s leading teaching innovators, select finalists and make recommendations to the Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor, who will choose two of SU’s best teachers as the next Meredith Professors.

In spring 2006, the new honorees will join Gary Radke and Arlene Kanter-whose 2005 appointments marked the 10th anniversary of the professorships-and a select group of 21 other tenured faculty members as recipients of SU’s highest honor for teaching. The Meredith Professorships were created with a substantial bequest from the Meredith estate. The honor recognizes and rewards outstanding teaching, and is designed to foster research and dialogue on teaching excellence.

Any regular, tenured member of the faculty in any of SU’s schools or colleges is eligible to be nominated by their respective dean, with the nomination in the form of a letter and resume outlining singular, concrete examples of teaching excellence. Nominees who are chosen by the committee as finalists are then asked to work with their dean to compile a teaching portfolio. This is submitted and reviewed as the committee decides on which nominees to recommend to the Chancellor, who makes the appointments.

Each recipient of the honor is designated a Meredith Professor for a period of three years. For each of the three years, each receives a supplementary salary award, a fund to support his or her research and additional money to be used in developing his or her academic unit. After completing their three year term, honorees retain the title of Meredith Professor and are enrolled for life in the Meredith Symposium as a signal of honor and to provide an ongoing forum for the discussion of teaching excellence.

During their terms, Meredith Professors design and conduct projects that explore ways to improve teaching and learning; the project proposals are considered during the selection process, and the active Meredith professors meet six to eight times each year to discuss ongoing projects and plan other activities. Two recent projects are those of Meredith professors Sarah H. Ramsey and Kristi J. Anderson, who completed their three-year appointments last May. They were honored by Chancellor Cantor during Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund’s Oct. 25 address to the faculty.

Andersen, professor and former chair of the political science department in The College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, explored new methods of evaluating teaching in addition to student evaluations. The result is a handbook titled “Evaluating Teaching Using Multiple Methods.” Ramsey, professor and former associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Law, created new projects and courses of study that provided multidisciplinary opportunities for family law students.

Nominations for the 2006-09 professorships should be submitted to Sheila Milden in the office of Academic Affairs, Room 518 of Crouse Hinds Hall, by 5 p.m. on Nov. 15. For more information about the selection process or criteria, contact selection committee chair Carr at 443-2455 ordwcarr@syr.edu. For more information on the Meredith Professors of Teaching Excellence, and a related program for non-tenured faculty titled the Meredith Teaching Recognition Awards,visit the Meredith Professorship website.