Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision

Award Description

Excellence in graduate supervision is recognized as the successful mentorship of graduate students through an enriching, supportive and productive learning environment. Nominees shall have at least ten years supervision experience at the graduate level. One award will be presented annually. The award may be withheld if there is no suitable candidate.

Criteria

Both nominators and evaluators should consider the following list of criteria. Nominees should provide evidence of outstanding graduate supervision, which can include but is not limited to:

• Encouraging students’ development as scholars through the stimulation and development of both key (inter)disciplinary research skills as well as general graduate professional skills – integrity and ethical understanding, creative and critical thought, teaching and communication skills, and leadership and management skills.
• Mentoring students to become independent scholars in their field and ensuring that students receive support and guidance throughout their program.
• Acting as a role model in the discipline and sharing experiences that will inform students' graduate experience and future careers
• Providing on-going constructive feedback on thesis progress to students and facilitating both the timely completion of students' programs and high completion rates for student.
• Demonstrating excellence in career development support for graduate students, both within and beyond the academy as appropriate to the discipline. This may include support for graduate students in thesis writing, grant writing, presenting at conferences, publishing, and teaching development, as well as raising awareness of career opportunities and supporting skill development for positions beyond the university.
• Using inclusive mentoring approaches to support diversity, develop cross-cultural competencies, and enhance the experiences of groups who have experienced historic and ongoing disadvantage and harm.
• Fostering safer mentoring environment by implementing innovative and culturally responsive mentoring approaches that specifically support and enhance diverse graduate student populations’ educational experiences.

This award shall normally be awarded once to any single recipient over the course of their career at Dalhousie.

Value of Award

$1000 for the professional development of the recipient.

To be eligible, the nomination package must be complete and, at a minimum, meet the criteria for the award.

1. Letter of nomination
2. The nominee's abbreviated CV (max. 4,000 words, 12pt, single-spaced)
3. The nominee's supervision dossier, including a supervision philosophy statement and highlighting graduate teaching and supervision excellence (max. 2,500 words, 12pt, single-spaced)
4. Two letters of support from current and/or former students
5. Two letters of support from colleagues
6. Additional supporting materials (e.g., additional letters of support, materials used to support supervision such as a student-­‐supervisor agreement, list of accomplishments by former students supervised, etc.) (max. 10 pages)
7. 150-word biography of nominee (to be used for communication purposes should the nominee be selected to receive the award)

Nominators should inform nominees of their nomination, providing nominees with enough time to write and compile the sections of the award file that must be written by the nominee. Nominators should collect and collate all required materials including those written by the nominee and the letters of supports to ensure confidentiality. The nominator is responsible for submitting the award nomination package on or before the deadline. In the case of self-nominations, the self-nominator should seek a colleague to request, collect and submit letters of support on their behalf to ensure confidentiality. This colleague shall submit the letters as a separate electronic file to the Centre for Learning and Teaching.

Submission of Nomination

Full nomination packages must be submitted as one PDF.  Nominations may be submitted one of two ways:

1. Upload the nomination online 
2. Email the nomination to clt@dal.ca

Nominations close each year on January 31.

Selection Committee

• Faculty Senator (elected by SLTC) – who shall chair the committee
• Executive Director, CLT (or designate)
• (1) Dean or Associate Dean Academic – appointed annually
• (2) Faculty Representatives – appointed annually (from the pool of previous winners, where possible)
• (1) Dalhousie Association of Graduate Students Representative - appointed annually