Awards

MALS Teaching Excellence Awards

The Mexican American and Latina/o Studies (MALS) Department has two teaching awards which may be given annually, one for faculty and one for graduate students. 

Award 1 — Dr. Alba Ortiz Award for Faculty Teaching Excellence

This award honors faculty (including tenured/tenure-track faculty and lecturers) who have taught in MALS for at least two academic years and who demonstrate a record of excellence in the undergraduate and/or graduate classroom or in the mentoring of student research projects. Excellence is defined by offering rigorous and innovative curriculum, mentoring students in research and other professional capacities, serving on thesis and dissertation committees, receiving strong quantitative and qualitative evaluations, and/or contributing in other demonstrable ways to the MALS teaching mission. 

Award 2 – Dr. Charles Roeckle Award for Graduate Student Teaching Excellence

This award honors graduate teaching assistants or assistant instructors who demonstrate teaching excellence in the MALS undergraduate classroom or in the mentoring of undergraduate student research projects. 

Nomination Process

Nominations for these awards may be made by students, faculty, or staff by submitting a letter of nomination to Luis Guevara (lvg@austin.utexas.edu)  by 5:00 pm on Friday, April 4, 2025. Self-nominations will not be accepted.
 
Once the Teaching Excellence Committee has all of the nominations, it will notify nominees and give them one month to collect additional materials, which may include: Course Instructor Survey (CIS) scores from the previous two years, peer teaching observations from the previous two years, student letters of support, colleague letters of support, and any supplemental material a nominee would like to submit that demonstrates excellence. Winners will be announced late in the spring semester. mester.