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Academic Affairs Support

Center for Faculty Excellence

Faculty Awards


Center for Faculty Excellence Teaching Awards

Every year, the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) presents a Non-tenure Track Teaching Award and a General Education Teaching Award. Effective 2019-2020, an award will also be given for excellence in teaching graduate courses. Faculty and students are requested to nominate faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in teaching. Nominees who wish to be considered for the awards submit their applications, which are evaluated by the CFE Advisory Committee. This year, there were several very deserving nominees in each category, all of who excel in the classroom and are passionate about their work. The CFE would like to congratulate all of the nominees - being nominated is an honor in itself.

The CFE is pleased to announce the following recipients of the 2025 Teaching Awards:

  • Lorraine Killion, Health and Kinesiology
    Outstanding General Education Instructor 2023-2024
  • Daniella Varela, Educational Leadership and Counseling
    Outstanding Graduate Instructor 2023-2024
  • Nuri Yilmazer, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
    Outstanding Teaching Innovator 2023-2024

The CFE is pleased to announce the following recipients of the 2024 Teaching Awards:

  • Outstanding Non-Tenure Track Instructor:
    Dr. Amanda Cruz, Language and Literature
  • Outstanding General Education Instructor:
    Dr. Alberto Rodriguez, History, Political Science, and Philosophy
  • Outstanding Graduate Instructor:
    Dr. Habib Ammari, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
  • Outstanding Teaching Innovator:
    Mr. Harmeet Singh, Accounting and Finance

The CFE is pleased to announce the following recipients of the 2023 Teaching Awards:

  • Outstanding General Education Teaching Awards:
    Dr. Kenneth Price, Department of Language
    Ms. Fulden Wissinger, Department of Art, Communications, and Theatre
  • Outstanding Non-tenure Track Teaching Award:
    Ms. Nicole Morris, Department of Art, Communications, and Theatre
  • Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award:
    Dr. Norma Guzman, Department of Teacher and Bilingual Education

Spring 2025 Award Nominations


The Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) is seeking nominations for the following awards for excellence in teaching:
  • Outstanding Non-Tenure Track Instructor – Nominees must have been teaching full-time and must have held a non-tenure track rank during AY 2024-2025.
  • Outstanding General Education Instructor – Nominees must have been teaching full-time and must have taught a General Education course during AY 2024-2025. Nominees for this award may be non-tenure-track, tenure-track, or tenured.
  • Outstanding Graduate Instructor – Nominees must have taught a graduate course during AY 2024-2025 and must be on the Graduate Faculty at TAMUK.
  • Outstanding Teaching Innovator – Nominees must have taught one or more courses during AY 2024-2025. Nominees for this award may be non-tenure-track, tenure-track, or tenured.
If you wish to nominate a faculty member for any of the awards (no self-nominations), please send a brief letter of nomination describing why you believe the faculty member to be deserving of the award to Amber Shipherd, Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence at CFE@tamuk.edu by the end of the day (11:59 pm), Monday, February 10th, 2025. Nominees will be contacted on Tuesday, February 11th, 2025, to submit an application by Tuesday, February 25th, 2025. The applications will be reviewed by the CFE Advisory Committee. The announcement of the recipients will be made by Thursday, March 13th, 2025. Each award recipient will receive a plaque of recognition and funds for approved activities/items for professional development.

CFE Travel Awards

The Center for Faculty Excellence is pleased to offer three competitive $500 travel awards this semester toward travel for a scholarly presentation at a conference. Preference will be given to applications that address the scholarship of teaching and learning, enhance undergraduate and graduate curricula and research, and impact the institutional mission. Preference will also be given to applicants who have not received a CFE/CTE travel/professional development award during the previous two years. To be eligible for these spring travel awards, your proposal must have already been accepted at a conference, and the travel must occur between March 1, 2025 and July 31, 2025. 

To apply, please complete this form and email it, together with required documents, in one single PDF file to the Center for Faculty Excellence, CFE@tamuk.edu by 5:00pm CT on Monday, February 24th, 2025. The CFE Advisory Committee will review the applications and make the award decisions by Thursday, March 13th, 2025.