The Lilly Fellowship for Teaching Excellence enables promising early-career faculty to cultivate teaching skills and leadership in a special yearlong collaboration. Each year, up to eight teaching fellows are selected to work closely with CTL on individual projects that typically involve developing or redesigning a course.
This is a competitive award program with a long history at UMass Amherst that extends back to 1986. Since then, the Lilly Fellowship for Teaching Excellence has supported leadership in teaching by training over 268 faculty. Past Lilly Fellows include 31 Distinguished Teaching Award (DTA) winners; 37 College Outstanding Teaching Award (COTA) winners; 1 Manning Award winner; over 46 department chairs; 21 associate deans; and 1 dean.
What Faculty Say About the Lilly Program
Alexandra Meliou (Computer Science) and Bradley Bennett (Accounting), Lilly Fellows in 2016-2017
Program Goals
The purpose of this program is to enable promising early-career faculty to develop and expand their expertise in and leadership in undergraduate teaching while pursuing the teaching and scholarly activity expected of faculty at a major research university. Lilly Fellows will also share their growing expertise with colleagues at the departmental, school/college, and/or campus-wide levels to ensure that the benefits of this premier program reach and support the greater UMass Amherst teaching community.
Eligibility & Selection Criteria
CTL is soliciting nominations of faculty members who meet the following criteria when the fellowship year begins in June 2025:
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Full-time assistant professors, pre-tenure at the time of final application date with at least two full semesters of teaching experience at UMass Amherst, or full-time early-career non-tenure track faculty on continuous appointment for no more than 3 years at the time of final application date
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Demonstrate considerable promise in teaching (TT and NTT) and scholarship (TT)
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Demonstrate understanding of student perspectives in teaching, strong interest in undergraduate student success, and a commitment to developing high-impact teaching practices
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Potential for making a positive impact within the Lilly cohort and on the teaching culture in the home department, school/college, and/or broader campus community
Nomination Process
Application Process for the 2025-2026 Lilly Fellowship for Teaching Excellence
The chair/head completes the enclosed nomination form for each nominee from their department, and sends the nominations to the dean. A maximum of two nominations are allowed from each department. The role of the dean is to approve the list of candidates submitted to CTL – sending applications to CTL shall be considered evidence of dean approval. The faculty member must be willing to participate in Lilly activities beginning the Summer of 2025 (see below for details) through the 2025-2026 academic year. CTL offers support for Lilly Fellows by either providing the individual fellow summer additional compensation equivalent to teaching a summer course ($6,000) or by transferring $8,000 to the fellows’ department to off-set the cost of a course release during the academic year in which the fellowship occurs. We request that the applicant and chair/head disclose possible semester(s) away from campus that would limit Lilly Fellowship availability in the fall and spring and indicate if the fellow will be supported directly through summer additional compensation or a departmental course release. All fellows must be available to participate in the fellowship fully. Fellowship nominees from previous years are welcome to reapply. Those who have previously been a Lilly Fellow may not reapply.
A selection committee will review nomination packages. Pending the volume of nominations, the selection committee may request in-person interviews with finalists only. Fellows will be selected by the end of the spring.
Deadlines
Complete Nomination Packages due from the department to their dean no later than: Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 5 PM Eastern.
Complete Nomination Packages due to CTL from each college no later than: Wednesday, January 8, 2025, 5 PM Eastern.
Fellowship Components
Please note that the Lilly Fellowship will begin in May or early June 2025. Fellows will receive either summer additional compensation to compensate for the time spent on the course redesign, or will arrange in discussion with their department chair/head a course release during 2025-2026, depending on departmental needs. Beginning in May/June 2025, Lilly Fellows will:
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Attend 2 half-day Lilly Institute sessions in late-May or early-June.
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Attend 9 regular cohort meetings throughout the 2025-2026 academic year, with readings and assignments in between (approximately 2-3 hours of work between meetings).
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Design or substantially redesign a course, which will include developing a new syllabus, learning objectives, assessments, course materials, and activities.
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Complete a portfolio that includes reflection essays and baseline teaching and learning data.
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Participate in evaluation activities that measure the effect of the program on both the fellows’ teaching and the new or redesigned course.
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After the fellowship, demonstrate leadership on the topic of teaching by organizing participating in teaching-related sessions, contributing to panel discussions on teaching, serving on awards committees, collaborating on teaching evaluation projects, or participating in other teaching-related roles and functions on campus.
Fellowship Support
The UMass administration and CTL staff understand that the Lilly Fellowship will be a rewarding but rigorous experience. Therefore, CTL and the Office of the Chancellor will support fellows with either summer additional compensation in recognition of the time that will be spent on the course redesign, or by transferring funds to their department to support a course release during the fellowship year. The two funding options are:
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$6,000 in summer additional compensation will be paid to the fellow to support them in their course (re)design planning, plus a $1,000 transfer to the fellow after successful completion of all academic year fellowship components. These funds are intended to go toward support of ongoing course development activities during the summer, such as summer salary, student support, and books and supplies; or
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$8,000 transfer to the department, to off-set the costs of a course release during the academic year, plus a $1,000 transfer to the fellow after successful completion of all academic year fellowship components. These funds are intended to go toward support of ongoing course development activities during the summer, such as summer salary, student support, and books and supplies.
Click to download the nomination form
Current and Past Lilly Fellows
