Philip Amsterdam Graduate Student Teaching Awards

Call for Nominations

The Office for Faculty Affairs will begin accepting nominations for the 2025 Faculty Honors Ceremony on Monday, October 21st, 2024. Individuals nominating a graduate student with teaching experience for this award should submit the nomination form using InfoReady.

  • Nomination form due: Friday, December 6th, 2024
  • Department endorsement of nominees due: Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
  • Nomination package due: Friday, January 17th, 2025

Submit a Nomination

 

The Philip Amsterdam Graduate Student Teaching Award honors graduate students who have made an outstanding contribution to GW teaching and recognizes the important contribution our graduate students make to the educational process. In 2003, President Stephen J. Trachtenberg and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald R. Lehman established the Philip Amsterdam Graduate Student Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching. 

Graduate students may be nominated by any GW student or faculty member. Winners are selected by a committee and receive $500 for professional development. The recipients will be honored at the Faculty Honors Ceremony.

 

Award Criteria

This honor is awarded to graduate students will have had at least three semesters of GA experience by the end of the fall semester; Instructional Assistants are eligible for this award if their work has been in a teaching capacity. Nominated GAs/IAs must have outstanding evaluations from their students and their supervising professors, as well as outstanding academic work. Winners will be selected based on the following qualities:

  • Enthusiasm, effectiveness, and commitment to improvement of the teaching and learning process.
  • Ability to engage and inspire students both within and outside the classroom.
  • High standards of professionalism and collegiality.
  • Commitment to the educational enterprise of the University.

 

Selection Process

Graduate students may be nominated by any GW student or faculty member. 

The process:

  1. Nominators must complete the nomination form.
  2. To endorse the nomination, the department will be asked to submit the following supporting materials electronically via InfoReady.
  • Amsterdam Graduate Student Teaching Award - Cover Sheet
  • Letter of support (1–2 pages) from a faculty mentor or supervisor detailing the GA’s accomplishments.
  • Students’ comments on the GA’s semester feedback, with numerical ratings where available (maximum of 5 pages)
  • Any other supporting materials the nominee wishes to include (CV, student statements, etc.)

The submission package should be a maximum of 15 pages, not including the required cover sheet; material beyond the 15-page limit will not be considered. 

More information on how to submit via InfoReady will be sent after the call for nominations has closed. 

 

Deadlines

  • Nominations Due: 12/6/2024
  • Department Endorsement of Nominee Due: 12/22/2024
  • Submission Package Due: 1/17/2025

Please contact Faculty Affairs (202-994-6783; [email protected]) with any questions.

 

2024 Philip Amsterdam Graduate Student Teaching Award Winners Video

 


2023 Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award Winners Video 

2020-2022 Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award Winners Video

2019 Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award Winners Video

All previous Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award winners