MONMOUTH, Ill.-Alumni, faculty, staff, students and Monmouth-area residents are invited to nominate Monmouth College faculty for the 2007 Hatch Academic Excellence Awards.

Established in 2004 by alumnus W. Jerome Hatch, the prestigious awards recognize current full-time faculty for excellence in teaching, scholarship or service. Each of the three awards carries a stipend of $1,000.

Nominations may be of any length, but should provide a case for why a particular faculty member is worthy of being considered for one of three awards: Distinguished Teaching, Distinguished Scholarship or Distinguished Service. The name and address of the person nominating must also be included.

Criteria for each of the awards are as follows:

•The Hatch Award for Distinguished Teaching recognizes outstanding effectiveness in teaching by engaging students in learning and helping them connect their learning to lives of service dedicated to the public good. Recipients are uniquely able to engage students in their courses and build relationships with them that go beyond the classroom. They serve as models and mentors for students, helping them to achieve their highest potential as students and citizens. Through interactions with them, students gain a wider view of the world and a deeper sense of their ability to contribute effectively to society. Whether through classroom performance, assistance to students outside of class, mentoring, guiding students with individual projects, or advising extracurricular activities, these faculty members have touched students’ lives in profound, life-changing ways.

•The Hatch Award for Distinguished Scholarship recognizes scholarship that leads to significant advancements within the recipient’s academic field that simultaneously benefits students, whether by creating opportunities for students to contribute to a research project, invigorating classroom teaching in unique ways, or by addressing issues critical to student learning and welfare. The scholarship may result in the publication of journal articles, books, music compositions, artwork, laboratory research, educational methods, etc. The award is based on the importance of the contribution to the discipline and its impact on students, rather than the level of activity itself.

•The Hatch Award for Distinguished Service recognizes service that benefits students in distinctive ways, whether by initiating and sustaining new programs or services, leadership that goes beyond the call of duty, or contributing to any of a number of worthwhile activities that benefit segments of the college community and/or the greater Monmouth community. The award is based on the importance of the contribution to the college and its impact on students, rather than the level of the activity itself.

The winner of the Distinguished Teaching award will be announced at the annual Honors Convocation on April 24. Distinguished Service and Scholarship recipients will be acknowledged at Commencement in May.

Nominations must be received by April 1. They should be mailed to Leah McLaren, Academic Affairs Secretary, 700 East Broadway, Monmouth, IL 61462, or emailed to leah@monm.edu.

Released by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330