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 offer the Killam Teaching Prize to faculty in recognition of excellence in teaching. UBC Okanagan awards one Killam Teaching Prize each year.

Award Criteria

The successful award recipient 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.

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.

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 on their own teaching practice.

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.

Intent to Nominate Form Nomination Form
Award Rubric Tips for Success

Award terms

Nominations close: Notification of Intent to Nominate Form due at nominee’s Dean’s Office November 10
Dean advises nominees of their nomination November 25
Nominee and Nominator submit relevant documents to the nominee’s Dean                         January 5
Dean’s office submits compiled nomination packages to Office of the Provost January 12
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.

In addition to being recognized at the annual Teaching Awards Ceremony and convocation, the Killam Teaching Prize recipient 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, are eligible. To be eligible for nomination, the faculty member must have received prior awards in recognition of teaching excellence and/or innovation.

Department heads and directors (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.

The nomination package must be submitted as one combined PDF document. Please refer to the key dates for the process deadlines.

Nominators must complete and submit the Intent to Nominate Form to the Dean of the nominee’s Faculty by November 10, 2023.

Following confirmation from the Dean’s office, nominators must complete and submit the following supporting documents to the Dean of the nominee’s Faculty by January 5, 2024:

  1. Nomination form
  2. Letter of nomination from the nominee’s department head or director
  3. Selected letters of reference from students and/or colleagues
    • Up to 5 letters of support may be included.
    • At a minimum, one letter must be from a student and one letter must be from a UBC peer.
  4. A letter of support from the nominee’s department head or director (not needed if the nominee’s department head is the nominator)

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 Student Experience of Instruction data (SEOTs, SEoIs, TEQs) highlighting excellence over time (2 pages)
  • Nominations exceeding the number of pages outlined in the above sections will not be considered.
  • Nomination packages must be submitted as one PDF document.
  • The entire nomination package must be submitted electronically to the Provost Office at ubco.provost@ubc.ca.
    • Please note the Intent to Nominate form does not need to be included.
  • Hard copies are not required and will not be considered.
  • Nomination packages that are late, incomplete, or do not conform to the guidelines above will not be reviewed by the adjudication committee.
MEET PAST KILLAM TEACHING PRIZE RECIPIENTS