The Teaching Assistant Award was established in 1998 to recognize the important contributions to the university by teaching assistants, seminar leaders and lab demonstrators. Since 1998, three additional awards (the Novice TA Award, the International Graduate TA Award, and the Graduate TA Award) have been created to recognize and celebrate excellence in teaching demonstrated by teaching assistants at Brock. 

Visit the 2023-24 Award Showcase to learn about the current Brock teaching award recipients.

Nomination Information

Nominations for the TA Awards can be made by members of the Brock Community including Senior Administrators, Deans, Directors and Chairs, faculty members, teaching assistants, staff, and former students. 

Nominations require collaboration between the nominator and the nominee to create a compelling nomination package. Nominees should consult the award criteria below for guidance on constructing their dossier. Nominators should consult below for tips on writing a persuasive nomination letter. 

Candidates are only eligible to receive one Teaching Assistant award within a 5-year period. Nominees are eligible to submit applications for more than one award in an academic year. 

The Nomination Dossier

Nominees should refer to our Creating an Effective Dossier resource when preparing their nomination dossier. The Educational Development team at the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation is available for consultation. Please reach out to cpi@brocku.ca and arrange an opportunity to discuss the accessibility of your nomination package with an educational developer. 

The nomination dossier can be submitted in the format preferred by the nominee. This includes a PDF document, or website with multimedia components.  

 TAs submitting a nomination dossier should note that the length of a dossier is influenced by many things including the length of one’s teaching experience, access to Student Course Experience Survey date (or non-access), teaching role etc. Shorter dossiers (e.g. 10-15 pages) can do an excellent job of sharing your teaching practice. 

Dossier Contents

Each candidate must submit an application package (i.e. dossier) to be considered for an award.  

The dossier should include the following items: 

1. Nomination Letter(s): One nominator must be a faculty member/instructor for the Brock course for which the candidate served as a teaching assistant, seminar leader, or lab demonstrator.  An optional second nominator may be a student, peer, or faculty member/instructor. Nomination letters should outline the nominator’s relationship to the candidate and why the nominator has chosen to nominate the nominee for the specific TA award being applied for.
2. A narrative summary of the support documentation (i.e., a summary of the testimonial letters, teaching evaluation data, etc.) 
3. Supporting documentation is essential for consideration for the award(s). Documentation may include: 
   1. a statement of teaching philosophy written by the candidate (1-2 pages), 
   2. evidence of professional development in teaching (e.g. attendance at the TA Workshop Series offered by the CPI; participation in GRST 5P01: Theory & Practice of University Teaching graduate course;
   3. completion of the Instructional Skills Workshop; etc.); 
   4. faculty evaluation of TA performance (if available);
   5. a summary of teaching evaluations (if available);
   6. testimonial letters/emails from sources other than the nominators (maximum of 6);
   7. a brief Curriculum Vitae (CV) that emphasizes the candidates teaching and learning experience.

All documentation is subject to verification by the selection committee. 

Award Adjudication 

All application packages will be adjudicated by a selection committee consisting of cross-Faculty representation including students, faculty/instructors, and administrators. The selected candidate(s) will be presented with their award(s) at the TA Reception held annually in April. 

Please note that the selection committee reserves the right not to select an award recipient in any given year or to select multiple recipients.