External Teaching Awards
External Teaching Award Candidate Selection Process
The Trent Teaching Commons invites you to submit an application for the 2026 External Teaching Award Candidate Selection Process. This process was developed to provide a streamlined approach for selecting faculty to receive institutional support for external teaching award nominations. The goal of this process is to ensure clear expectations, increased process transparency, and greater equity and access for potential candidates.
You can submit an application on behalf of yourself or a colleague to receive nomination support for external teaching awards from the Trent Teaching Commons for the OCUFA Teaching Award, and D2L Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning.
(Note that this process previously included the 3M National Teaching Fellowship; however, this program is currently paused and not accepting submissions)
This process does not preclude individual faculty members from submitting their own independent nominations for external awards.
Timeline
- Call for nominations opens – July 13
- Deadline to submit – September 28
- Review of Nominations – November
- Candidates are notified – December
Application Link
Form: https://trentu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1FZ4eMPw9EfcGtE
Please fill out the Qualtrics form and send an updated teaching CV to teachingcommons@trentu.caby September 28, 2026. As you prepare your Qualtrics nomination form, you may find it helpful to access a Word doc version of the nomination form.
Process
Nominations will be reviewed by the Senate Teaching Awards Subcommittee alongside the criteria for each award. Shortlisted candidates’ nominations will be reviewed by the Deans and Provost’s Office. All nominations will remain active for a period of 5 years, and candidates will have the opportunity to provide any updates during the call for nominations each year.
Successful Candidates
Candidates who are successful will receive support from the Trent Teaching Commons in the development of their award nominations including the procurement of all required student and faculty letters of support; strategic dossier writing and editing support; assistance with nomination layout and structure, ensuring all required components are in place; and submitting the nomination for consideration. Candidates will be expected to collect and compile information and data relating the award categories and write a large number of sections of the approximately 50-page nomination dossiers.
Note: This survey includes two separate awards for which you may submit nominations. If you are nominating yourself or someone else for only one award, you are not required to complete the sections for the others; please leave those fields blank. Successful candidates will receive support for 2028 award submission deadlines.
For questions and general inquiries, please email teachingcommons@trentu.ca.