BOT Awards

I'm on a committee to select MnSCU Board of Trustees (BOT) Awards for Excellence in Teaching - today was our first day-long meeting, 8:30-8:30, to select from among the 20+ portfolios submitted from about 15 campuses across the state. My own campus had one submission, which was too bad: we could have had three!

What a great group of people to select these awards. I'm meeting and working with faculty and administrators from as far away as Fergus Falls, Hibbing, and Grand Rapids. Also on the committee are administrators in the main MnSCU office who are just terrific: smart and committed to higher education in this state.

And what great portfolios; I'm already going to use some of the ideas I'm finding in them, especially around how to design syllabi, assess learning, engage with students. I have to say that we really have some extraordinary faculty members out in these two-year colleges. Students just don't know how lucky they are.

Last year was the first year of the awards, I think. It'll be interesting to see who's selected this year.