Faculty Awards
The College of Pharmacy invites educators in the college community (faculty & staff) to submit applications to be considered for the annual Inspire Teaching Award for Instructional Excellence.
Inspire Teaching Award for Instructional Excellence
The Inspire Teaching Award for Instructional Excellence is designed to recognize everyday teaching excellence through a creative teaching activity. Each year the college recognizes up to three educators who excel at pedagogical design, delivery, and assessment through reflective practice, evidence-based pedagogy, and student-centered teaching. Applications will be judged by an external review panel, and awardees will receive a personalized plaque and will be showcased at the College’s teaching week, Ediphy.*
Award Overview
Applicants should prepare their materials before accessing the application.
Link to Application and Recommendation form: Inspire Teaching Award Application
Note for those with Wexner Medical Center emails:
If you have trouble accessing the form, send all materials by email to Tanya Bomsta (bomsta.1@osu.edu).
Applicants should submit a teaching activity they planned and delivered, along with a statement that includes a description of the pedagogical problem they addressed through the activity and an assessment of how well the activity engaged students and resolved the learning problem. A “teaching activity” can be a learning activity or an assessment activity.
One award will go to an educator in each of the following three teaching categories: Undergraduate, Graduate & Lifelong Learning, and Professional Education. While applicants will apply directly for this award, we also invite recommendations from those who have seen examples of excellent teaching in the college. The award administrators (not the judges) will reach out to recommended individuals to solicit a full application.
All educators are encouraged to submit their best teaching activities, including those educators who have applied evidence-based pedagogy in novel ways, and those who exemplify the criteria above through effective, reflective pedagogy and documented best practices. Please note that the applicant is responsible for ensuring appropriate credit and permission from anyone involved in the creation, design, and delivery of the activity.
- Applicant must be engaged in a teaching role at the College of Pharmacy (including instructors who are staff, faculty, postdoc, lecturer, guest lecturer) at the time of application and during the time the activity was delivered. A person in a teaching role is defined as someone who is involved in the entire teaching process, including ideation, development/design AND delivery.
- The teaching activity must have been delivered to a class of students within the current academic year and must have occurred in a pharmacy-related course. (This includes traditional courses as well as courses for continuing education and outreach & engagement).
- The educator must have designed or redesigned the teaching activity within the current academic year. (For example, an activity that has been through several iterations over a period of several years is eligible as long the educator spent time reworking the activity within the current academic year.)
- Applicants may apply to any of the three categories to align with the level at which the activity took place: Undergraduate, Graduate & Lifelong Learning, or Professional. Applicants may apply to more than one category, but the submitted teaching activity must be unique to each application.
- Educators who designed and delivered an activity as a group may apply together.
- Winners are ineligible to apply in the year immediately following their award, but may apply again after that.
**Please Note**
- If you are recommending a fellow educator who you think should apply, you can do this through the submission link below or by emailing Tanya Bomsta (bomsta.1@osu.edu).
- An external committee of judges will review all submitted materials to determine a winner in each category. The committee reserves the right to grant no awards, additional awards, or honorable mentions, depending on the quality and quantity of received applications.
How to Apply
Applicants must apply directly for the award. The applicant must submit their materials through the link at the bottom of this page.
It is best to have your application materials prepared before going to the submission link.
Please compile all materials into one PDF file.
Please include:
A narrative about your teaching activity. Applicants should submit a written description or video recording or audio recording that narrates the design and delivery process of the activity. The best practice for this narrative is to tell the judges the ‘story’ of how you designed and delivered the activity. Be sure to describe the following:
- What student learning need you noticed that inspired you to create/re-design this activity (this should be described from a learner-centered perspective), and how the activity aligned with that need.
- A description of how you delivered the activity
- Your post-activity evaluation of the activity’s impact. You might include details about student engagement, student achievement of objectives, student comments or reactions to the activity. (All data should be de-identified.)
- Reference evidence-based teaching principles the activity exemplifies and how you applied your own vision to these principles. You might reference pedagogical resources you are familiar with or that you consulted in your design (such as literature, collaboration with colleagues, consultations with instructional offices, or endorsements)
If you record video or audio, the recording should no longer than 10 minutes. Please submit the recording by providing a public link so that it is accessible to the judges. Written submissions should not exceed 5 double-spaced pages.
- Artifact(s) of teaching activity described in your statement. Depending on the activity, this might be documentation of assignments, screenshots of Carmen pages, links to created educational videos, a recording of the activity, or a detailed description. The judges should be able to clearly understand what the activity entailed and how it was delivered. Any links should be accessible (i.e., not behind a sign-in). Links can be included in the PDF along with a description of what the link is.
2025 Victoria Williams, Casey May, Essilvo Sulejmani, Kristen Roberts, Brittney Mize, Janet Antwi
2024 Nick Denton, Kelsey Schmuhl, Ross Tamburro, Steven Nagel, Emily Gilbert, Colleen Dula, Stacy King
2023 Karl Werbovetz, Zach Woods, Kristy Jackson, David Matthews
Applications are due May 29, 2026. Applicants will be notified in July 2026.
Submit Application or Recommendation here:
Inspire Teaching Award Application
Questions? Contact Kathy Kelley (kelley.168@osu.edu) or Tanya Bomsta (bomsta.1@osu.edu).
*Availability of award plaques depends on number of winners.
Award for Outstanding Community Engagement
Given to any faculty or staff member for exceptional work in community engagement through reciprocity in collaborations with one or more community partners. Work should involve valuable learning experiences for students/trainees, sustainable contributions, and/or demonstrable impact that addresses an important community need. The award recipient will receive a personalized engraved award.
Eligibility
Cannot receive award if won within the past three years.
2026 Rebecca Lahrman
2024 Zach Woods
2023 Ruth Emptage
2022 Julie Legg
2021 Molly Downing
2019 Anna Haas-Gehres
2018 Gerald Cable