The 2024 Manning Prize Winner is Phitsamay Uy, Associate Professor in the School of Education, College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, and Co-Director of the Center for Asian American Studies.
The Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching was established in 2015 by alumni Robert ’84 and Donna Manning ’85, ’91, and honors outstanding faculty members from each of the five campuses of the University of Massachusetts. This competitive prize is presented to faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching along with exemplary dedication to students and the campus community. This $10,000 award will be presented to one faculty member from each of the five campuses. As is tradition, President Meehan will host a celebration honoring the 2025 recipients at the end of the academic year. The celebration will take place on June 23, 2025 at the UMass Club.
Members of the UMass Lowell community are invited to nominate individuals whom they believe to be worthy of the Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching award. Recommendations from students are strongly encouraged.
Nominations are open utill January 6, 2025.
Nomination Process
Nominators must send an email to Manning_Award@uml.edu outlining in 100 – 200 words why the individual faculty member is worthy of the award. Faculty may self-nominate. Faculty nominated but not selected in prior years retain active consideration for three years from the date of their nomination without the need for re-nomination. Faculty are encouraged to submit a brief update of any recent accomplishments relevant to the evaluation criteria.
- The deadline for nominations to be received is January 6, 2025.
- Nominees will be notified on January 7, 2025 of their nomination.
- Nominees will have until January 10, 2025 to accept the nomination by sending an acceptance email to: Manning_Award@uml.edu.
Selection Process
Complete candidate application materials must be emailed (in pdf format) to: Manning_Award@uml.edu by February 14, 2025.
Criteria
The nominee must:
- Be a current full-time faculty member at UMass Lowell who has achieved at least the rank of associate professor, associate teaching professor, or associate clinical professor.
- Demonstrate excellence in all three of the following areas:
- Teaching
- Dedication to students
- Dedication to the university community
The Selection Process
Complete candidate application materials must be emailed to: Manning_Award@uml.edu.
If a nominee wishes to submit an application for the Manning Award, they will be asked to submit a package with the following materials:
- Cover letter that outlines their teaching philosophy, instructional approaches and active learning techniques and presents evidence of accomplishments in all of the following areas:
- Excellence in teaching
- Exemplary dedication to students
- Exemplary dedication to the UMass Lowell (UML) campus community
- At least two but no more than three letters of support, no longer than one-page each, from colleagues or students/alumni who are not currently enrolled in their class, to include:
- At least one student letter
- At least one letter from a departmental colleague
- Letters should provide detailed evidence of the nominees’:
- Excellence in teaching
- Exemplary dedication to students
- Exemplary dedication to the UML campus community
- Submit only one example from any given category. These examples may include:
- Course syllabus
- Course/project assignment information
- Slides from an in-class presentation
Past Winners:
- 2023: Stephanie Block, Associate Professor of Psychology
- 2022: Khalilah Reddie, Associate Teaching Professor of Chemistry and Director of Medical Profession Admin Gap Initiative and Collaboration (Magic) Program
- 2021: Stacy Szczesiul, Associate Dean of Online Education, Accreditation & Licensing
- 2020: Keith Mitchell, Associate Professor of English
- 2019: James Nehring, Faculty Chair and Professor, Leadership in Schooling
- 2018: Deborah Finch, Associate Teaching Professor, Manning School of Business