Part of the core mission for the Rocky Mountain Section is to provide recognition for quality mathematics teaching. The Early Career Teaching Award was established in 2015 to recognized excellence in teaching in the mathematical sciences for faculty that are early in their career. The award was inspired by the Henry Adler Award, which has been active at the national level since 2004. We hope to use this section program as an opportunity for recognition for faculty members that are early in their career and this program makes a wonderful companion to the section Distinguished Teaching Award.

Past Early Career Teaching Award Recipients

Guidelines for nomination

Eligibility

ECTA eligibility requirements:

1. Be a member of the MAA

2. Hold a doctorate or master’s degree

3. Be college or university teachers who have held a full-time faculty appointment in a college department of mathematical sciences in the Rocky Mountain Section for at least two, but not more than seven, years since receiving the doctorate. A nominee who has just started the eighth year of teaching at the time of the application is still eligible for the award. If a nominee has held their degree for more than seven years then the nominator must indicate on the nomination form the times that the nominee was not teaching. Common exceptions to the seven-year limit are maternity, paternity, family, or medical leaves. Sabbaticals and postdoctoral fellowships are exceptions only if they involved no teaching and the application does not include accomplishments made during these times.

Nominations for the award may be made by any member of the Rocky Mountain Section of the MAA.
Nominees should:

• Be recognized as extraordinarily successful in their teaching

• Have effectiveness in teaching undergraduate mathematics that can be documented

• Have had influence in their teaching beyond their own classrooms

• Foster curiosity and generate excitement about mathematics

For an award the at the spring Section Meeting, the nomination form should reach the Section Awards Coordinator by December 15th of the previous year. After filing the nomination form, the nominator has until January 15th to submit a complete nomination packet.

Nomination Packet

A complete nomination packet should consist of the following documentation as it is described below.

1. Nomination Form and One-Page Summary — Describe the unusual and personal and professional qualities of the nominee that contribute to his or her extraordinary teaching success, and attach to this completed nomination form.

2. Narrative (Up to 2 pages) — Describe the nominee's extraordinary success in teaching by providing a narrative of the nominee's background, experience, teaching style, special contributions, other teaching awards, and any additional evidence of the nominee's unusual achievement in teaching. Note especially effectiveness in teaching undergraduate mathematics and influence beyond the nominee's own classrooms. The narrative should not exceed two single-spaced pages.

3. Additional Documentation (Up to 2 pages) - Submit no more than two pages of further evidence to document the nominee's extraordinary teaching success. This documentation will vary greatly from institution to institution, but may include summaries of peer or student evaluations, comments on teaching, possible increases in numbers of majors in mathematics (with clear evidence of the nominee's substantial responsibility for them), possible student success in mathematics competitions (with clear evidence of the nominee's substantial responsibility for them), success in research in mathematics conducted by undergraduate students under the direction of the nominee, production of superior quality honors theses by undergraduate students under the direction of the nominee, development of curricular materials successfully used by colleagues, adoption of the nominee's teaching methods or techniques by experienced colleagues, service as a respected adviser for a student group, etc.

   Nominators should bear in mind that the selection committee for the award might view a nomination more positively if it is accompanied not just by carefully chosen testimonials from a few selected students and faculty, but also reports comments and criticism which is representative of the whole spectrum of opinion among students and faculty on the nominee's teaching.

4. Letters of Recommendation (Each letter is one page. Maximum of 5 letters.)

   • Two letters from the nominee's present or former students.

   • One letter from the nominee's colleagues (could be the department chair).

   • At most two additional letters from anyone qualified to comment on the nominee's extraordinary teaching success, including additional students and/or colleagues.

5. The final form of the nomination packet is a single pdf file with nomination materials in the order that is specified above, i.e. nomination form, narrative description (not to exceed two pages), additional evidence (not to exceed two pages), and up to five letters (no more than one page per letter).

   • If you have the materials in separate pdf files then the awards coordinator can help get them merged into one file.