University of Toronto Global Educator Award

2024 Recipient

Phani Radhakrishnan
Associate Professor, Organizational Behaviour
Department of Management

Award Description

The University of Toronto Global Educator Award recognizes faculty members who embody the University’s global mission and profile. They are effective teachers who demonstrate intercultural/global fluency—the ability to successfully operate and communicate within different cultural contexts—through pedagogies that reflect a diversity of perspectives and invite engagement from all students. One award of $3,000 will be offered annually. Award recipients will be honoured at the annual Excellence in Teaching Reception to be held each fall.

Eligibility

Teaching-Stream and Tenure-Stream faculty members in continuing appointments as of September 1, 2020. Note this includes pre-tenure and pre-continuing status faculty.

Selection

The University of Toronto Global Educator Award winners are determined by a process of nomination and selection by a committee chaired by the Vice-President, International. The Selection Committee will comprise Tenure-Stream and Teaching-Stream faculty members from different ranks and will include:

Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost, International Student Experience — Chair
Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation (one representative)
Three faculty representatives, including one member of the University of Toronto President’s Teaching Academy

The Selection Committee will assess nominees based on the extent to which they embody the traits of a global educator, as evidenced through their modeling of intercultural excellence, including the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives. There should be clear evidence (e.g. excerpts from course syllabi, representative teaching materials – this might include sample assignment instructions, study guides, selected lecture slides, descriptions of in-class or community-based activities, screencasts from online course pages, sample course communications, etc.) of ongoing contributions and impact at the level of course design and delivery in the following areas:

Interactional Diversity: Enhance intergroup interaction (i.e. across domestic/international students and among international students) for the purposes of developing global/intercultural fluency, a critical 21st century skill. Empower and equip University of Toronto students with the skills and experiences to communicate confidently across cultures in both academic and informal settings.

Addressing Barriers to Inclusive Classrooms: Create the conditions for a global learning environment that engages and welcomes participation from diverse perspectives, through curricular and pedagogical innovations that facilitate the fuller participation of all students with the course content and with each other.

Note: The Award is intended to recognize faculty who model the above criteria in classroom settings on U of T’s campuses. As such, international experiences (i.e. travel) are not required.

Nomination Procedure

Nominations are solicited from members of the University community, with appropriate Decanal approval/endorsement. A complete nomination package will include the following and should be submitted with a table of contents:

Letter of nomination written by the nominee’s Chair, Dean, Academic Director, Principal, or colleague detailing the specific contributions of the nominee which address the selection criteria above as they relate to the nominee and speaks to the impact their contributions have had towards preparing students to become global citizens and leaders (maximum three pages).

The nomination letter should address the nominee’s teaching-related achievements at the undergraduate and/or graduate level that address the selection criteria (noted above). The letter may include reference to the following areas: (I) Course and curriculum development, and (II) teaching and learning initiatives that the nominee has engaged in or has developed (e.g., initiatives for first year students, mentoring initiatives for graduate students, new teaching approaches, informal/formal research on global/intercultural fluency, presentations on global/intercultural fluency etc.).

Up to two (2) letters of support from individual students (current or former) that address how the nominee embodies the traits of a global educator, as noted in the selection criteria above (maximum two pages per letter).
List of 5 – 10 relevant student comments from course evaluations. Other relevant qualitative evidence related to student feedback or support may also be provided (maximum five pages).
Two pieces of clear evidence that demonstrate the nominees’ contributions and impact in course design and delivery that model the selection criteria of interactional diversity and addressing barriers to an inclusive classroom (e.g. excerpts from course syllabi, representative teaching materials – this might include sample assignment instructions, study guides, selected lecture slides, descriptions of in-class or community-based activities, screencasts from online course pages, sample course communications, etc.). These examples are to be attached as appendices with the nomination package (maximum three pages for each piece of evidence).
Current curriculum vitae of the nominee.

Nominations should be submitted in PDF format by email to awards.provost@utoronto.ca by deadline indicated below. Please submit the documents in the order outlined above.

Self-nominations are not accepted.
It is the responsibility of the nominator to ensure that the nomination package is complete. Incomplete nomination packages will not be considered by the Selection Committee.
Re-submissions: Nominations may be resubmitted once for a total of two consecutive years. Each re-submission must be accompanied by a new nomination letter.

Nomination deadline: January 30, 2025.

Contact the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation for general advice and support with nomination packages including the provision of a summary template for quantitative course evaluation data, guidelines for presenting student comments, etc.

Please direct questions related to the award to Tom Parker, Grants and Office Manager, Office of the Vice-President International at t.parker@utoronto.ca.

Past Recipients