Killam Teaching Prize

The Killam Scholarship and Prize Programmes were established in 1965 through the generous benefaction of Izaak Walton Killam and Dorothy J. Killam, with the aim to support advanced education and research at five Canadian universities and the Canada Council for the Arts. UBC is one of six Killam institutions that offers the annual Killam Teaching Prize to faculty in recognition of excellence in teaching.

There is one Killam Teaching Prize awarded to a UBC Okanagan faculty member. To be nominated, faculty members must have received a prior award in recognition of teaching excellence and/or innovation. The successful award winner will be an exemplary role model who has and will continue to have significant impact on the culture of teaching and learning on the Okanagan campus and beyond. They will have demonstrated excellence in three categories along with demonstrated intentional commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.

  1. Educational Leadership: Educational leadership involves leading significant transformation in teaching and learning at an institutional, disciplinary, community, and/or societal level. Educational leadership fosters and supports change, and leads to a more inclusive, equitable, and diverse post-secondary education landscape.
  2. Teaching Excellence: Teaching excellence refers to the intentional actions of an instructor to create an exceptional learning environment through engaging in pedagogical practices designed to maximize student learning. Excellent teachers engage in inclusive practices, scholarly teaching and ongoing reflection of their own teaching practice.
  3. Educational Innovation: Educational innovation is the novel execution of ideas that contribute to more effective teaching and learning practices. The result of educational innovation impacts people in academia and beyond to reach mutual goals.

The Killam Teaching Prize call for nominations has been extended to March 8.

Intent to nominate form Nomination form

Award terms

Nominations close: Notification of Intent to Nominate Form due at nominee’s Dean’s Office January 9
Dean advises nominees of their nomination January 20
Nominator submits relevant documents to the nominee’s Dean January 29
Nominee submits relevant documents to their Dean                        January 29
Dean’s office submits compiled nomination packages to Office of the Provost February 15
March 8
Presentation of awards at Awards Reception May
Recognition of award recipients at Convocation June

 

UBC Okanagan awards one Killam Teaching Prize per year, consisting of a cash prize of $5,000. A faculty member may only win the award once during the course of their career.

The recipients will be honoured formally during convocation. The Killam Teaching Prize winner is also invited to a ceremony and reception with the Killam Trustees, members of the Killam family, and other Killam scholars at UBC.

UBC Okanagan faculty members with a continuing appointment, either tenured or tenure-track, is eligible. To be eligible for nomination, the faculty member must have received prior awards in recognition of teaching excellence and/or innovation.

Department Heads (or equivalent) will be invited to submit nominations. Faculty members may not apply for the award on their own behalf, although they may provide documentation in their own words as to why they feel they are deserving of the award.

Unsuccessful nominations will be carried forward to the following year’s competition (one year only). Nominees will have the opportunity to update their nomination package to reflect their latest teaching endeavours towards meeting the criteria for the award.

The adjudication criteria for the Killam Teaching Prize are based upon a comprehensive, robust view of teaching that includes in‐class instruction but also takes into account those activities that support teaching that occur outside of the classroom.

The Killam Teaching Prize Committee will be chaired by the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, Okanagan or their designate, who will select the members of the committee at their sole discretion. The committee may include past award recipients.

Nominators complete and submit to the Dean of the nominee’s Faculty the Intent to Nominate Form

Nominators complete and submit to the Dean of the nominee’s Faculty the following supporting documents:

  1. Nomination form
  2. Letter of nomination from the nominee’s Head
  3. Selected letters of reference from students and/or colleagues (no more than 6 letters in total)
  4. A letter of support from the nominee’s Dean

 

The nominee will complete and submit to their Dean the following supporting documents:

  1. The nominee’s CV in UBC format edited to explain teaching excellence (no more than 15 pages)
  2. Teaching philosophy (2 pages)
  3. Personal statement explaining how the criteria is met with specific examples (3 pages)
  4. Overview of SEOTs/SEoIs highlighting excellence over time (2 pages)

 

Please refer to the above stated dates for the process deadlines.

  • Nominations exceeding the number of pages outlined in the above sections will not be considered.
  • Nomination packages that are late, incomplete, or not conforming to the guidelines above will not be reviewed by the adjudication committee.
  • The entire nomination package must be submitted electronically to the Provost Office at ubco.provost@ubc.ca.
  • Hard copies are not required and will not be considered.