Spring Break
EDITORIAL: Cash prizes go a long way
Outstanding efforts deserve rewards
Editorial | 3/13/07
Posted online at 11:56 PM EST on 3/12/07
/ Last updated at 9:52 PM EST on 3/12/07
Under pressure to "publish or perish," as the old adage goes, many professors find it hard to balance their academic commitments with their relationships with students. Some professors, however, do an exceptional job including both in their professional lives, and it is for this reason that we feel the Student Union's decision to eliminate the cash prize for its annual teaching award should be reconsidered.
Since 2001, professors who received the highest ratings in the Course Evaluation Guide from students received $500 and a commemorative plaque from the Union, and since 2006, outstanding teaching fellows have received $200. The Union has now replaced the cash prizes with plaques for both as one of several recent cost-cutting measures
Though Senator-at-large Andrew Brooks '09 said he feels that such a little amount of money makes no difference to professors, we believe that no matter how much money any worker earns, bonuses of any size are always appreciated. This rings especially true for teaching fellows, who aren't flush with cash in their journeys up the academic ranks. For them, $200 actually makes a difference.
We also think the small size of this cash prize is a specific reason that it shouldn't be cut. Saving $700 dollars doesn't make a serious dent in the Union's budget of $26,000 per semester. By comparison, the proposed elimination of the NOVUS guide, which accounts for $6,000 in the budget, would make a much bigger difference as a cost-cutting measure.
We applaud the Union for taking its budget seriously, but for just $700, our best professors deserve to be rewarded. And if the Union wants to eventually balance its budget, it should find other measures that may be less discouraging to the professors who make this high-caliber institution what it is.
Since 2001, professors who received the highest ratings in the Course Evaluation Guide from students received $500 and a commemorative plaque from the Union, and since 2006, outstanding teaching fellows have received $200. The Union has now replaced the cash prizes with plaques for both as one of several recent cost-cutting measures
Though Senator-at-large Andrew Brooks '09 said he feels that such a little amount of money makes no difference to professors, we believe that no matter how much money any worker earns, bonuses of any size are always appreciated. This rings especially true for teaching fellows, who aren't flush with cash in their journeys up the academic ranks. For them, $200 actually makes a difference.
We also think the small size of this cash prize is a specific reason that it shouldn't be cut. Saving $700 dollars doesn't make a serious dent in the Union's budget of $26,000 per semester. By comparison, the proposed elimination of the NOVUS guide, which accounts for $6,000 in the budget, would make a much bigger difference as a cost-cutting measure.
We applaud the Union for taking its budget seriously, but for just $700, our best professors deserve to be rewarded. And if the Union wants to eventually balance its budget, it should find other measures that may be less discouraging to the professors who make this high-caliber institution what it is.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Bill Wilt
posted 3/15/07 @ 6:43 AM EST
I know there's a similar program at my alma mater, Hamilton College.
(www.hamilton.edu)
It's called the Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award, awarded each year to a Hamilton faculty member "who demonstrates extraordinary commitment to teaching. (Continued…)
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