The Promising Professors Awards honor new faculty and graduate students who demonstrate excellence and innovation in teaching.

DETAILS AND HOW TO APPLY
Each year MCS acknowledges excellence in teaching with the Promising Professor Award. Three junior faculty and three graduate students will be honored again at this year’s conference. Monetary awards of $250 for first place, $150 for second place, and $75 for third place will also be presented to the winners at the business meeting.  Winners will be recognized at the Awards Luncheon.

ELIGIBILITY

Faculty who have taught no more than five years full-time and graduate students who have primary responsibility for teaching at least one course. All entrants must be members of the MCS Division.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Submit the following information as ONE PDF with the applicant’s name in the title of the PDF file, and please CLEARLY indicate whether you are a current faculty member or a graduate student who is teaching at least one course:

• • Current curriculum vita
  • Letter of support from your department chair or dean
  • An application letter of no more than two pages explaining what makes your teaching unique and your assessment of your strengths and weaknesses as an instructor
  • At least two syllabi from classes you have taught within the past two years (Graduate students may send only one)
  • At least two examples of assignments used in those classes
  • A statement of teaching philosophy
  • Other materials that demonstrate teaching creativity, instructional development and responsiveness to student needs (Limit of five additional materials)

All materials should be submitted electronically in PDF format to the Awards Chair, Anastasia Kononova, at kononova@msu.edu, by 11:59 pm EDT on April 30.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Winners for each category (faculty and graduate student) will be decided by the Vice Head and Teaching Committee members. Winners will be recognized by the Teaching Chair at the Division Awards Luncheon at the national conference, as well as listed on the Division Website.

PAST WINNERS

2024 Promising Professor Faculty Category

1st Place: Christoph Mergerson (University of Maryland).

2nd Place Kelsey Mesmer (Saint Louis University).

2024 Promising Professor Student Category

1st Place: Nikhila Natarajan (Rutgers University)

2nd Place: H. Dat Tran (Louisiana State University)

3rd Place: Eliana DuBosar  (University of Florida)

2023 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
1st Place: Derek O'Leary (Virginia Commonwealth University)

2023 Promising Professor Student Winners
1st Place: Patrick Johnson (University of Iowa)
2nd Place: Jeevani Sammeta (Bowling Green State University)

2022 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
1st Place: Traci K. Gillig (Washington State University)
2nd Place: Kelsey Whipple (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
3rd Place: Jingyuan Jolie Shi (Hong Kong Baptist University)

2022 Promising Professor Student Winner
1st Place: Briana Marie Trifiro (Boston University)

2021 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
1st Place: Harrison Hove (University of Florida)
2nd Place: Chris Etheridge (University of Kansas)
3rd Place: Yen-I Lee (Washington State University)

2021 Promising Professor Student Winners
1st Place: Alexis Romero Walker (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
2nd Place: Stephanie Gibbons (Washington State University)
3rd Place: Emily Buteau (University of North Dakota)

2020 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
1st Place: Dylan M. McLemore, University of Central Arkansas
2nd Place: Yue Zheng, California State University, Northridge
3rd Place: Jennifer Hoewe, Purdue University

2020 Promising Professor Student Winners
1st Place: Tegan Rae Bratcher, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2nd Place: Yu-Jin Heo, University of South Carolina
3rd Place: Alex Kresovich, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2019 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
First Place: Lindsay M. McCluskey, State University of New York at Oswego
Second Place: Derek Moscato, Western Washington University
Third Place: Ruoxu Wang, University of Memphis

2019 Promising Professor Student Winners
First Place: Minhee Choi, University of South Carolina
Second Place: Anthony Cepak, Michigan State University

2018 Promisng Professor Faculty Winners
First Place: Kevin Hull, University of South Carolina
Second Place: Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University
Third Place: Newly Paul, Appalachain State University

2018 Promising Professor Student Winners
First Place: Qun Wang, Rutgers University
Second Place: Sushma Kumble, Pennsylvania State University

2017 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
First Place: Brett Sherrick, University of Alabama
Second Place: Michael Devlin, Texas State University
Third Place: Denise Hill, Elon University

2017 Promising Professor Student Winner
First Place: Minjie Li, Louisiana State University
Second Place: Sean Leavey, Rutgers University
Third Place: Myoung-Gi Chon, Louisiana State University

2016 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
First Place: Xi Cui, Dixie State University
Second Place: Scott Parrott, University of Alabama
Third Place: Geah Pressgrove, West Virginia University

2016 Promising Professor Student Winner
Lindsay McCluskey, Louisiana State University

2015 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
First Place: Brooke McKeever, South Carolina
Second Place: Rowena L. Briones, Virginia Commonwealth University
Third Place: Vanessa Bravo, Elon University

2015 Promising Professor Student Winners
First Place: Julia Daisy Fraustino, University of Maryland
Second Place: Amanda J. Weed, Ohio University
Third Place: Young Kim, Louisiana State University

2014 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
First Place: Lucinda Austin, Elon University
Second Place: Peter Bobkowski, University of Kansas
Third Place: Jensen Moore-Copple, Louisiana State University

2014 Promising Professor Student Winners
First Place: Drew Shade, Pennsylvania State University
Second Place: Camille Reyes, Rutgers University
Third Place: Nicholas Hirshon, Ohio University

2013 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
1st place: Jason Martin (DePaul University)
2nd place: Hyunjin Seo (University of Kansas)
3rd place: Anthony Dudo (UT-Austin)

2013 Promising Professor Student Winners
1st place: Robin Haislett (Texas Tech University)
2nd place: Elizabeth Stoycheff (Ohio State)
3rd place: Viorela Dan (Free University of Berlin)

2012 Promising Professors
First Place – Rita Colistra, West Virginia University
Second Place –Kalen Churcher, Niagara University
Third Place – Marcia DiSasto, Pennsylvania State University

2011 Promising Professor Faculty Winners
First Place: Brad Love, Texas at Austin
Second Place: Porismita Borah, Maryville
Third Place: Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth

2011 Promising Professor Student Winners
First Place: C. Temple Northup, North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Second Place: Michelle K. Dangiuro-Baker, Pennsylvania State
Third Place: Jay Hmielowski, Ohio State