Students: Who is your most inspiring CU Boulder educator? A campus-wide call for Best Should Teach nominations
The campus is calling on students to answer one question: who are your most inspiring educators at CU Boulder? Each year, the Best Should Teach Awards honor University of Colorado Boulder faculty, graduate instructors, and K-12 teachers at the CU Boulder Best Should Teach Ceremony, co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning, Graduate School, College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Education. Student nominations are a key consideration of the selection process, so the Best Should Teach selection committee of past honorees seeks student nominations for outstanding full-time faculty and senior instructors from all colleges and schools across campus.
The Best Should Teach initiative was launched by the late lifelong educator Lindley Stiles and his wife Marguerite Stiles, who established the initiative in 1996. Stiles’ inspiring motto is inscribed on the School of Education Building walls:
“To those who come, I leave the flame! Hold it as high as you can reach. If a better world is your aim, all must agree: The Best Should Teach.”
Nominations for the 2023 Best Should Teach faculty awards are due Wednesday, Nov. 1. Student nominators are asked just two questions about their inspiring nominees:
- Describe how the faculty member's teaching has impacted your learning, growth, and overall experience at CU Boulder.
- In your own words, describe how the nominated faculty member exemplifies the Best Should Teach motto.
Best Should Teach candidates must have 1) demonstrated educational leadership through contributions to improving college teaching on the Boulder campus and/or through work to improve teaching in primary and secondary education, 2) shown a sustained high level of involvement in pedagogical innovation and development and successful and productive mentoring of undergraduates and graduate students, 3) contributed their time to programs that support the improvement of teaching and academic professional development at all levels, and 4) not be honored with a Best Should Teach Award in pervious years (view past awardees here). All full-time faculty (tenured and tenure-track faculty, and senior instructors) are eligible.
Best Should Teach Awardees receive a Best Should Teach certificate endorsed by the Deans of the Graduate School, the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Education, and the candidate’s college or school.
