Robinson Teaching Awards

The English department annually presents the James A. Robinson Awards for outstanding graduate student teaching of undergraduate courses, including academic and professional writing, creative writing, and literature.

The application process is now closed.

Qualifications

Currently enrolled English department graduate students who have not previously won a Robinson Award.

Nominations

Candidates may be nominated by emailing englmeo@umd.edu.

To Apply

Nominees should submit the following materials:

1. One-page, single-spaced statement describing teaching philosophy and accomplishments. If you wish, this statement may also address any pedagogical challenges you have faced and how you negotiated them.
2. Curriculum vitae
3. The designation of two individual courses taught during the last 3 semesters (fall 2022, spring 2023, and/or fall 2023), for which student course evaluations will be retrieved by the selection committee
4. The name of a faculty mentor who is willing to provide a reference, and
5. The names and email addresses of two undergraduate students from two different semesters within the last three regular semesters (fall 2022, spring 2023, and/or fall 2023), who would be willing to provide a reference. We will contact them after your application has been received.

We are not seeking letters of reference upfront, so please do not arrange to have them sent as part of the application process.

Please submit your application materials by March 1, 2024, via email to englmeo@umd.edu.

Selection Committee

The Robinson prizes will be chosen by a selection committee comprising the associate chair, the director of undergraduate studies, the director of academic writing, and a previous winner of the award.

Award recipients will be recognized with a $150 prize, and the awards will be announced in the English Department's end-of-year newsletter and at the departmental graduation ceremony.

Past Winners

2024: Da Som Lee, Dylan Lewis

2023: Jenny Schollaert, Annemarie Mott Ewing 

2022: Elizabeth Catchmark, Andy Nunn

2021:  Kerishma Panigrahi, Garth Libhart, and Brittany Starr

2020:  William Charles Gonch, Nabila Hijazi, and Dominique Young

2019:  Aqdas Aftab, Justine Marie Decamillis

2018:  Carlos Chism, Andrea Knowles

2017:  Norrell Edwards, Ruth Osorio

2016:  Virginia Butler, Jeff Griswold

2015:  Elise Auvil, Cameron Mozafari

2014:  Elizabeth Ellis, Katie Stanutz

2013:  Amanda Dykema, Nancy Stewart

2012:  Heather Lindenmann, Sarah Sillin

2011:  Michelle S. Lang Boswell, Thomas Earles, and Maggie Ellen Ray

2010:  Stephanie Graham; Thomas Geary and Adam Lloyd

2009:  Laura Heninger Hill; Jasmine Lellock

2008:  David Coley; Heather Brown

2007:  Kelly Wisecup; Damion Clark

2006:  Lara Crowley; Elizabeth Whitney

2005:  Andrew Raymond Bossert; Wendy Hayden

2004:  Rhondda Thomas; Donna Packer-Kinlaw