Purpose

The UMass Lowell Award for Excellence in Teaching by Adjunct Faculty is designed to honor individual adjunct faculty members who exemplify a deep commitment to excellence in teaching. UMass Lowell (UML) prides itself on outstanding teaching and recognizes the efforts made by faculty to make their classes engaging and to enhance learning outcomes. This involves impactful experiences teaching the next generation to reach higher levels of skill, knowledge, understanding, appreciation, and expression. Exemplary faculty performance varies from program to program across our campus.

Eligibility

  • The nominee must be an adjunct faculty member at UMass Lowell teaching at least 3 credit hours during the current academic year. Self-nominations are welcome.
  • Previous nominees are eligible, and it is hoped that they will be nominated again.
  • Previous winners are not eligible for a period of six years.

Criteria for Award

Applicants will be evaluated according to how the applicant:

  • Engages students: demonstrates ability to inspire and actively engage students in the classroom.
  • Provides timely, useful, and productive feedback to improve student learning and performance.
  • Promotes critical thinking: encourages students to develop their own ideas and challenge existing theories.
  • When appropriate for the class, promotes effective writing and communication skills as part of the instruction and as appropriate for the discipline.

Please visit the detailed evaluation rubric on the Faculty Excellence Awards landing page.

Application Process

Any faculty member (full or part-time) may nominate an adjunct instructor for this award. Adjunct faculty members may also self-nominate. The deadline for applications is April 3, 2026. All submissions must be made online through the Faculty Excellence Awards Portal. The submission must include :

  • a short statement (500-1,000 words) describing the applicant’s philosophy of teaching, the impact of those activities, and how the applicant meets the award criteria;
  • three letters of support that contain specific examples of the applicant’s activities that are aligned with the review criteria:
    • a letter from the nominator.
    • or, in the case of a self-nomination, two (and not more than three) letters of support, ideally one from a colleague and one from a student (student letters can be from current student(s) or former student(s) who have graduated from UML within the past five years).
    • Note: A single individual may write no more than one support letter for each award category.

The Faculty Excellence Committee will meet to review the nominations and make a recommendation to the Provost or designee.

Award Winner

The winner of this award will be announced in April 2026. The winner will be invited to present a lightning talk on their teaching methods at the Fall 2026 Faculty Symposium. The winner also will receive a $1,000 award.

For questions, please email: Faculty_Success@uml.edu.

The Faculty Excellence Committee embraces and celebrates diversity in all its forms and encourages individuals from underrepresented populations to apply or to nominate others for these awards.