The President's Distinguished Senior Lecturer and Lecturer Awards, presented annually, honor and recognize the distinguished accomplishments of faculty who hold the rank of Senior Lecturer or Lecturer for their outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service. The recipients will receive a taxable cash award of $1,000. Names are displayed on a plaque on the third floor of the Waterman Building.
The AY 2025-2026 Award Recipients are:
Lecturer M. Noelia Barrios-García
Lecturer M. Noelia Barrios-García, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources
Dr. Barrios-García’s influence at UVM is extensive; as one letter writer noted, “It feels a little crude to put her accomplishments into accounting terms, but her record is quite remarkable: >2,700 students taught in 25 course offerings for a total of 8,959 student credit hours!” Dr. Barrios-García employs active learning, even in her larger classes, and has developed field and project-based learning opportunities for students. She actively engages with UVM's Center for Teaching and Learning and was recently selected as a CELO Faculty Fellow, through which she will design a new service-learning capstone in Urban Ecology. She actively mentors’ students as undergraduate teaching assistants, and serves as a mentor for capstone internships and undergraduate theses. Dr. Barrios-García is an active researcher and scholar; in fact, since coming to UVM, Dr. Barrios-García has coauthored 11 peer-reviewed publications and two book chapters. Dr Barrios-García also has success in securing external funding for her research. She is a leader at UVM and currently serves as Interim Co-Director of the Environmental Studies major.
Senior Lecturer Sarah Turner
Senior Lecturer Sarah Turner, Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Turner is innovative in her teaching; she includes a service-learning component of her first-year seminar and served as a Faculty Fellow for service learning in 2018. Her work as a teacher-scholar was described as transformational in her materials. Dr. Turner’s nomination materials include clear evidence of notable achievements and scholarship, with essays and chapters in peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Turner has also coedited volumes of essays published by prestigious presses. As her letters of support state, this publication record is similar to the requirements for promotion to Full Professor in her department. Dr. Turner’s commitment to inclusive excellence is clear in her work teaching students to develop a critical understanding of race and racism in the US, as well as in her scholarship related to African American literature and Critical Race Studies. Dr. Turner’s work is even more impressive in this challenging environment where such subject matters have been politicized. In addition, Dr. Turner’s impact on how students are engaging with spaces at UVM. Dr. Turner is a leader at UVM, both within and outside of the English Department, and she has made important contributions to the development of UVM’s D1 and First Year Seminar curricula.
Eligibility/Criteria
All full-time faculty with a minimum of three years or more in the rank of Senior Lecturer or Lecturer are eligible for consideration. Eligible faculty may be nominated by a dean, department chair, or faculty within the academic discipline of the nominee.
The Award (one each to a Senior Lecturer and one to a Lecturer) will be made annually. The criteria include the following:
- Demonstrated record of exemplary contributions (innovation, creativity, productivity, impact, success, scholarly output) as a teacher-scholar at the University of Vermont;
- Demonstrated record as a leader, role model, innovator in activities that promote or enhance teaching effectiveness, new pedagogy, and/or curricular reform or development;
- Demonstrated record of excellence in teaching;
- Notable achievement(s) in teaching or scholarship, recognized beyond the University, that bring recognition to the department, program, college or school;
- Demonstrated commitment to inclusive excellence and to advancing the University’s diversity goals; and
- Record of scholarship/research/creative arts dissemination as evidenced by peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings papers, presentations at national conferences, invited talks, books, and creative activities (e.g., exhibitions, screenings). *Note that the scholarship is often not part of the workload for lecturers. A record of scholarship should only be considered in cases where it is part of a faculty member’s workload.
Nomination Process
Faculty, staff and students may nominate faculty members for the President’s Distinguished Senior Lecturer and Lecturer Awards. Faculty members may self-nominate. Nominations are due by February 1st every year (if this date falls on a weekend, the due date is the following Monday), and must include the following:
- Letter of nomination from the faculty member’s department chair, associate dean or program director;
- Letter of support from the faculty member’s dean;
- Up to three internal letters of support from faculty members at UVM including one from outside the nominee’s home department; and
- Nominee’s current CV.
- Optional supporting materials (up to three abstracts or papers, or other evidence of creative scholarship).
*Nominations that are not selected for the award in a given year will be included in the pool of nominations the following year. Nominators are welcome but not required to update their nomination materials for the new review.
Nomination material should be submitted with the "President’s Distinguished Senior Lecturer Award Nomination", or "President’s Distinguished Lecturer Award Nomination" as the file name no later than 11:59 PM on February 1st (if this date falls on a weekend, the due date is the following Monday).
Award Committee
The Committee is made up of one tenured or senior lecturer faculty member appointed by the dean from each of the eight degree granting colleges or schools and the University Libraries, and two faculty members appointed by the President of the Faculty Senate, each serving for a three-year staggered term and eligible for reappointment for a second term. The Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs appoints the Chair of the Committee. The Committee recommends candidates for the award to the President. The President will make the final decision regarding award recipients.
Award Review Committee 2025-2028
Review Committee Chair: Professor Dianna (Annie) Murray-Close, Department of Psychological Science, College of Arts and Science, and a recipient of the 2018 George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award and the AY2018-2019 Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award.
Review Committee Members:
- Noah Barclay-Derman, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biomedical and Health Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Sciences
- Karen Benway, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, College of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences; AY2021-2022 PD Senior Lecturer Award recipient
- Thomas Chittenden, Senior Lecturer, Grossman School of Business; AY2016-2017 PD Lecturer Award recipient
- Kelly Hamshaw, Senior Lecturer, Department of Community Development & Applied Economics, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences; AY2020-2021 PD Senior Lecturer Award recipient
- Laura May-Collado, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences; AY2019-2020 PD Lecturer Award recipient
- Kaitlin Northey, Associate Professor, Department of Education, College of Education and Social Services; AY2025 Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award recipient
- Walter Poleman, Senior Lecturer, Natural Resources Program, Rubenstein School of Environment & Natural Resources; AY2017-2018 PD Senior Lecturer Award recipient
Selection Timeline
- December 1, annually: Call for nominations opens.
- February 1, annually: Nominations due. *(if February 1st falls on a weekend, the due date is the following Monday)
- February 1 - March 30: Nomination reviewed by Awards Committee.
- April 1: Awards Committee submits list of finalists to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Dr. Jane Okech at Jokech@uvm.edu. Copy submissions to Faith Schumacher at Faith.Schumacher@uvm.edu
- May 1: The President announces award recipients.
For more information contact Faith Schumacher at Faith.Schumacher@uvm.edu