Do you know an outstanding teacher at the University of Mississippi who deserves to be honored? The university is seeking nominations for the 2022 Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award, the highest honor Ole Miss bestows upon its professors.

Faculty, staff, students and alumni are encouraged to submit nominations by March 1 for this year’s award. Assistant, associate and full professors are eligible, except previous recipients.

The winner receives a $5,000 prize and a personal engraved plaque, and his or her name also goes on a permanent display in the J.D. Williams Library.

“The faculty of the University of Mississippi are enthusiastic, dedicated and talented teachers,” Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. “Their work in the classroom provides the foundation for the university’s academic excellence.

“The Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award is an opportunity to honor that commitment to excellence,” Boyce continued. “I encourage members of the community to provide nominations so that we may once again recognize an outstanding individual who is shaping lives and minds.”

The selection committee includes previous recipients, plus the director of Alumni Affairs and a student representative. Criteria include nominating letters that describe examples of exceptional teaching and letters that have been submitted for nominees in previous years.

The Faculty Senate submitted a proposal to Chancellor J.D. Williams in 1965 to create a program of recognition and awards for superior teaching. The following spring, a committee solicited nominations for an Outstanding Teacher Award from faculty, students and alumni.

Previous winners of the award include John Rimoldi, Mark Wilder, Laurdella Foulkes-Levy, David Willson, Gregory Schirmer, John Neff, Kelly G. Wilson, Ethel Young-Minor, John O’Haver, Ann Fisher-Wirth, William Berry, Bob Brown, John Czarnetzky, Ann Monroe, Ken Sufka and John Young.

Matthew Reysen, associate professor of psychology and winner of the 2020 award, chairs the committee that will select this year’s winner.

“It’s very gratifying for me to teach and work with students in the classroom,” Reysen said. “Receiving the award means a lot to me because I have so much respect for the many amazing teachers on campus.”

Nominations can be submitted by Ole Miss faculty, students and alumni online here, by email to chancellor@olemiss.edu or by mail to the Office of the Chancellor, Lyceum 123, University, MS 38677.