William L. Bucknall Excellence in Teaching Award
William L. Bucknall Excellence in Teaching Award Description
A $25,000 award supported by former University of New Haven Board of Governors Chair and distinguished alum Bill Bucknall ’63 A.S.,’65 to recognize exemplary teaching by full-time faculty at the University. Recipients will be recognized for outstanding instruction both inside and outside the classroom. Evidence of engaged teaching practices should be demonstrated throughout the recipient’s teaching portfolio, and a progressive record of leading high-impact experiential activities with students outside typical instructional settings is also required. Faculty scholarship and service performance should meet or exceed departmental expectations for promotion in rank.
The $25,000 award will be distributed as a $15,000 one-time payment to the award winner soon after the award event that will take place in November 2025, with a $10,000 budget provided during the 2026 calendar year to cover expenses related to professional development (e.g., conferences or workshops), teaching and research expenses/resources (e.g., classroom supplies, student field trips, guest speaker travel expenses, equipment, software or other technology for teaching, or a stipend for a teaching assistant), or other expenses related to innovative teaching practices or assessment.
After reading the list of required items, we ask that you kindly reply to this email to confirm that you will apply.
Required items to apply for the William L. Bucknall Excellence in Teaching Award 2025-26
Written items:
- A 500-word personal statement from the nominee that includes:
- Self-reflective commentary on personal practices of learning and teaching
- Summary of innovative, hands-on approaches in active learning with students inside and outside the classroom
- Example(s) of success achieved over the last several years in engaging students and advancing learning outcomes using these approaches and/or a record of publication in discipline based or SOTL journals (i.e., Scholarship of Teaching and Learning)
- Record of development of new curricula, courses, instructional activities, or varied media for learning
- A description of the proposed use for $10,000 supplementary budget and proposed approach(es) to share teaching practices with the University of New Haven community and with others outside the University community. This document should include budget details for the larger items (and categories for smaller items) for which the supplementary budget would be used.
Items to upload:
- At least two recent course syllabi and 1-2 student projects that illustrate points covered in the personal statement above, along with PDFs of course rating reports from 2024-2025 terms (Selected course evaluation reports from earlier terms can also be included.)
- Current CV (Curriculum Vitae)
- Two letters of support (e.g., from faculty colleagues and/or faculty development staff members). Deans, members of the Provost Office, the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, and the Bucknall Teaching Award winner from the prior year cannot provide letters of support because of their roles on the applicant selection committee.
Application Process
Before beginning to fill out the application form:
- Write your (1) personal statement and (2) proposed use/proposed approaches and save as Word docs or PDFs
- Gather the items to upload
Save the items in a folder on your computer so you can quickly upload the items from the folder to the application form located here.
The deadline to submit application materials is Wednesday, October 15, 2025, by 4:30 pm. Letters of Support may also be sent directly to CTE@newhaven.edu by colleagues or staff members by Friday, October 17, 2025, by 4:30 pm.
What happens next – Review, Selection, and Campus Announcement
A committee led by the director of the Center for Teaching Excellence will review the applicants’ submissions for consideration and rank the applicants for review by the provost and the president. The recipient will be named in November and recognized at a campus reception.
Nominations Due: Wednesday, October 1st by 4:30 pm.
Communication of Intent to Apply Due: Wednesday, October 8th by 4:30 pm.
Application Materials Due: Wednesday, October 15th by 4:30 pm.
The William L. Bucknall Excellence in Teaching Award is a $25,000 award supported by former University of New Haven Board of Governors Chair and distinguished alum Bill Bucknall (A.S. ’63, B.S. ‘65) to recognize exemplary teaching by full-time faculty at the University.
Recipients of the award are recognized for outstanding instruction both inside and outside the classroom. Evidence of engaged teaching practices must be demonstrated throughout the recipient’s teaching portfolio. A progressive record of facilitating high-impact experiential activities with students outside typical instructional settings is also required. Faculty scholarship and service performance should meet or exceed departmental expectations for promotion in rank.
The $25,000 award has two parts: a stipend and a budget intended to facilitate the faculty member’s continued work on the development and deployment of high-impact teaching practices. The stipend is distributed as a $15,000 one-time payment following the November 2024 award event. A budget of $10,000 is provided during the 2025 calendar year to cover expenses related to professional development (e.g., conferences or workshops), teaching and research expenses/resources (e.g., classroom supplies, student field trips, guest speaker travel expenses, equipment, software or other technology for teaching, or a stipend for a teaching assistant), or other expenses related to innovative teaching practices or assessment.
The last three recipients were Melissa Whitson in 24-25, Lauren Boasso in 23-24, and Bruno Barreto de Góes in 22-23. Please consider nominating a colleague or yourself for this prestigious award.
A list of required application items is attached to this email.
Award Criteria:
Applicants must …
- Be full-time faculty members who have completed at least two years (four semesters) of full-time service at the University.
- Demonstrate evidence of innovative approaches to teaching both inside and outside the classroom that encourage students to apply classroom theory to real-life situations.
- Be recognized by peers and students for outstanding instruction and have an overall record of performance that meets or exceeds expectations for their rank.
- Be willing to share student course evaluations, course syllabi, and sample materials as evidence of engaged teaching methodologies; applicants must also be prepared to articulate how they evaluate the impact of their teaching practices on student learning.
- Demonstrate involvement in the development of new programs, courses, activities, or media/approaches for learning.
- Commit to sharing their teaching practices via submissions to teaching and learning journals or conferences and at University of New Haven campus workshops.
Recipients will be expected to support the efforts at the University to advance high-impact experiential education through activities that are appropriately matched to their strengths.
Nomination Process
Self and peer nominations must be submitted via email to the Center for Teaching Excellence cte@newhaven.edu by 4:30 pm, Wednesday, October 1st.
What happens next?
Upon receiving a nomination, the CTE will thank the nominator and send a separate email to the nominee. The email to the nominee will include a request to confirm that they will/will not apply, the list of required items, and instructions with a link to the submission form. The deadline for submitting application items is Wednesday, October 15th at 4:30 pm.
Selection and Campus Announcement
A committee led by the director of the Center for Teaching Excellence will review the applicants’ submissions for consideration and rank the applicants for review by the provost and the president. The recipient will be named in November and recognized at a campus reception.
Nominations Due: Wednesday, October 4th by 4:30 pm.
Application Materials Due: Wednesday, October 18th by 4:30 pm.
William L. Bucknall Excellence in Teaching Award Description
A $25,000 award supported by former University of New Haven Board of Governors Chair and distinguished alum Bill Bucknall ’63 A.S.,’65 to recognize exemplary teaching by full-time faculty at the University. Recipients will be recognized for outstanding instruction both inside and outside the classroom. Evidence of engaged teaching practices should be demonstrated throughout the recipient’s teaching portfolio, and a progressive record of leading high-impact experiential activities with students outside typical instructional settings is also required. Faculty scholarship and service performance should meet or exceed departmental expectations for promotion in rank.
The $25,000 award will be distributed as a $15,000 one-time payment to the award winner soon after the award event that will take place in November 2023, with a $10,000 budget provided during the 2024 calendar year to cover expenses related to professional development (e.g., conferences or workshops), teaching and research expenses/resources (e.g., classroom supplies, student field trips, guest speaker travel expenses, equipment, software or other technology for teaching, or a stipend for a teaching assistant), or other expenses related to innovative teaching practices or assessment.
The last three recipients were Bruno Barreto de Góes in 22-23, Kristine Horvat in 21-22, and Patrick Rivers in 20-21. Please consider nominating a colleague or yourself for this prestige award.
Attached is a list of required application items.
Award Criteria
- Applicants must be full-time faculty members who have completed at least two years (four semesters) of full-time service at the University.
- Applicants should demonstrate evidence of innovative approaches to teaching both inside and outside the classroom that encourage students to apply classroom theory to real-life situations.
- Applicants should be recognized by peers and students for outstanding instruction and have an overall record of performance that meets or exceeds expectations for their rank as outlined in departmental elaborations.
- Applicants must be willing to share student course evaluations, course syllabi, and sample materials as evidence of engaged teaching methodologies and be prepared to articulate how they evaluate the impact of their teaching practices on student learning.
- Applicants must demonstrate involvement in the development of new programs, courses, activities, or media/approaches for learning.
- Applicants must commit to sharing their teaching practices via submissions to teaching and learning journals or conferences and at University of New Haven campus workshops.
- Applicants will be expected to support the efforts at the University to advance high-impact experiential education through activities that are appropriately matched to their strengths.
Nomination Process
Self and peer nominations must be submitted via email to the Center for Teaching Excellence cte@newhaven.edu by 4:30 pm, Wednesday, October 4th.
What happens next?
Upon receiving a nomination, the CTE will thank the nominator and send a separate email to the nominee. The email to the nominee will include a request to confirm that they will/will not apply, the list of required items, a link to the application form, and submission instructions. The deadline to submit application items is Wednesday, October 18th at 4:30 pm.
Selection and Campus Announcement
A committee reviews the materials, with membership consisting of the college deans, an administrative staff member appointed by the provost who works closely with faculty on instructional matters, and the previous year’s recipient of the Bucknall Award. The committee will review the applicants’ submissions for consideration and rank the applicants for review by the provost and the president. The recipient will be named in November and recognized at a campus reception.
