This is a general call for applications for the 2027 Grisham Master Teacher Awards, the 2027 Donald Zacharias Early Career Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Awards, and the 2027 Alumni Association Graduate and/or Professional Teaching Excellence Awards. Interested faculty must submit an electronic application in PDF form to the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President (e-mail grishamaward@provost.msstate.edu).
Eligibility Requirements:
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All current full-time Faculty members at Mississippi State University with the required years of service, regardless of rank, are eligible to apply for these awards.
- You must be teaching at least one course during either Fall 2026 or Spring 2027 to allow for observation, which is required to be eligible for any award.
- Grisham Master Teacher Award: at least 7 years of faculty experience already completed at MSU, teaching primarily undergraduates.
- Zacharias Early Career Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award: 3 to 6 years of experience already completed at MSU teaching primarily undergraduates.
- Alumni Association Graduate and/or Professional Teaching Excellence Award: at least 3 years of experience already completed at MSU teaching primarily graduate students or professionals.
Deadlines:
For applicants who can only be observed in fall 2026, the deadline for applications is Sunday, November 1, 2026. All others should submit before Sunday, January 10, 2027. Late applications will not be accepted.
Application: To lessen burdens on Department Heads or others and give applicants more responsibility and control in the process, applicants may manage and submit their own applications. Applicants may provide relevant factual information to letter writers but must not provide actual or suggested text.
Nominees should submit the following in a single PDF:
1. Application Cover Page
2. A letter of nomination (2-page maximum).
3. A limit of five (5) letters (1-page maximum each) of support, with at least two from faculty and at least two from students.
4. Teaching Vita (5-page maximum). This should include those parts of a general vita that pertain specially to teaching, such as courses developed and taught, research and scholarship in teaching, and teaching awards.
5. Statement of education/teaching philosophy (not to exceed two pages).
6. Description and evidence of teaching methods and assessment of student learning (not to exceed 10 pages). Please note that the committee request that no summary table of student evaluations be included, however as part of this portion of the application, you may include a subset of students’ qualitative comments for courses taught over the past three years. The committee may access quantitative student evaluations as part of its evaluation process.
7. Up to two recent representative course syllabi.
The committee will evaluate applications on criteria such as the engagement of students in learning; assessment of teaching and learning; clarity and organization of teaching; variety of teaching methods; scholarship; training and support of teaching; and professional presentation of the application. Finalists will be observed teaching their classes, in person or synchronous online. An application cover sheet and instructions are available at www.provost.msstate.edu under the Announcements section.
The University Distinguished Teaching Awards Committee will review the applications and recommend winners to the Provost, who will award up to three Grisham awards, up to four Early Career awards, and up to two Graduate and Professional Awards. The Provost’s Office will announce the winners before the end of the academic year.
We are deeply grateful to Mr. and Mrs. John Grisham, to the Zacharias Endowment, and to the Mississippi State University Alumni Association for their support of these highly prestigious teaching awards.
University Distinguished Teaching Awards Committee for 2026-27:
Leslie Burger (Wildlife,Fisheries, & Aquaculture)
Melody Dale (Libraries)
Jim Dunne (Vice Provost), ex-officio member
Jim Giesen (History), chair
Morgan Green (Industrial and Systems Engineering)
Caroline Hatfield (Art)
Nicole Miller (Teacher Education and Leadership)
Bart Moffatt (Philosophy and Religion)
Sheida Riahi (Marketing, Quantitative Analysis & Supply Chain Logistics)
Peter Summerlin (Landscape Architecture)
