User:YazonKnight/Quantrell Award

The Quantrell Award, full name The Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, is an undergraduate teaching award given annually by the University of Chicago to faculty nominated by students in recognition of their undergraduate teaching.

The award is given to three to six faculty members each year. A nominated faculty member must have tenure and be either lecturers or professors at the university to receive it. The award is given as a sum of cash and is announced at the yearly graduation ceremony.

History
According to the University of Chicago, it is thought to be the oldest undergraduate teaching award in the United States.

The award was created in 1938 by a donation of money to the school by Ernest Quantrell. It was officially named the Quantrell Award in 1952 after his parents. Quantrell describes his reason for the endowment:"“The success of a university depends on its product, and its product consists of students trained to lead happy, proficient, useful and unselfish lives. To obtain this product, a good faculty is essential and constitutes the most important part of a university. We have had, and still have, great teachers, but we will have still greater ones.”"

Eligibility
In order to qualify, a teacher must be nominated by students, be tenured or on the tenure track, and "serve as Senior Lecturers, Lecturers, Instructional Professors, or Professors of the Practice in the Arts of any rank or title".

Non-tenured faculty have fought to be eligible for the award. Faculty Forward, the union representing non-tenure-track faculty at UChicago, has included language in their contract to secure eligibility and has filed grievances against the college. UChicago states the award is only offered to tenured faculty as it is meant to honor faculty in regard to their excellency beyond teaching, such as research, which non-tenured faculty do not do.

When the award was originally created, the university did not differentiate between faculty via tenure. Faculty Forwards estimates about 40% of undergraduate courses are taught by non-tenured professors.