The West Coast Teaching Excellence Award, hosted by the British Columbia Teaching and Learning Council (BC and Yukon), recognizes excellence in postsecondary teaching over a number of years, primarily at the undergraduate level.
An individual or teaching team nominated for this award will be characterized by a proven commitment to enhanced student engagement and learning, a reflective and intentional approach to teaching practices, and dedication to teaching improvement including successful implementation of any of the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
This award is an opportunity for recipients who are on the path to move from institutional teaching awards to national teaching awards such as the 3M National Teaching Fellowship. Nominees need not have won an institutional teaching award, however.
The BCTLC selects up to five recipients annually from different post-secondary institutions. Each institution can submit up to two nominees per year.
Note: the 2024 application deadline has been extended to November 29, 2024, at 11:59 p.m.
UBC's West Coast Teaching Excellence Award recipients
- 2024: William Valley, Associate Professor of Teaching in Applied Biology, and Associate Dean of Equity, Decolonization, and Inclusion, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
- 2023: Celeste Leander, Professor of Teaching in the Departments of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science
- 2022: Larry Leung, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Each post-secondary institution may submit a maximum of two nominations per year and the preparation of the nomination dossier can be time consuming. At UBC Vancouver, a streamlined internal selection process is implemented.
Applications consist of a 20-page dossier, including a nomination letter from the President, Vice-President Academic, or designate.
Please see the West Coast Teaching Award web page for details on eligibility, criteria, and what must be submitted in the dossier.
Process
UBC Vancouver internal nominees should submit a current CV and a 4-page statement highlighting how their recent teaching practices address award criteria.
An internal review committee will review the submitted materials and choose up to two nominees from UBC Vancouver.
This review committee consists of:
- The Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning
- The Academic Director (or the Deputy Academic Director) of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
- One 3M National Teaching Fellow at UBC Vancouver
- Two other teaching award recipients at UBC Vancouver, such as the Killam Teaching Prize or the West Coast Teaching Excellence Award
Decisions will be based on the BCTLC West Coast Teaching Award eligibility and criteria
2024
- Early November: Open invitations to submit nomination. Details about internal online nomination site available.
- November 29, 11:59pm (extended): Internal nomination (a current CV and a 4-page statement in PDF format); submit via online nomination site.
- Mid-December: Internal review committee meets to select two UBCV nominees
- Late-December/Early January: Nominees informed of internal nomination decision
2025
- February 18, 3:00 p.m.: Nomination dossiers from the two UBCV nominees due to Vice-Provost Teaching and Learning, to facilitate the preparation of the nomination letters
- February 28: The BCTLC representative from UBC Vancouver (currently the Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology) will forward nomination dossiers to the BCTLC Awards Committee
Contacts
- If you have questions about the award or the process, please contact Simon Bates, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President Teaching and Learning: simon.bates@ubc.ca
- Consultation/advice is available for how to write the internal nomination materials, and/or the nomination dossier to send to BCTLC; please contact Judy Chan at the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology: judy.chan@ubc.ca.