Regional Awards for Excellence in High School Teaching

Sponsor: Division of Chemical Education

Purpose: To recognize, encourage, and stimulate outstanding teachers of high school chemistry in the ACS Regions.

Nature: The Region Award consists of a cash award and a plaque. Reasonable travel expenses to the Regional Meeting at which the award will be presented will be reimbursed. A certificate/plaque may also be provided to the recipient’s institution for display. In some cases, the awardee may be asked to give a keynote address and/or participate in a symposium with other teachers.

Eligibility: Any individual, except a member of the award selection committee or currently enrolled student of the nominee, may submit one nomination or support form in any given year. The nominee must be actively engaged in the teaching of chemistry or a chemical science in a high school (grades 9-12) on at least a half-time basis. The nomination should clearly demonstrate as many of the following attributes as possible:

The quality of the nominee’s teaching; unusually effective methods of presentation should be emphasized;
The nominee’s ability to challenge and inspire students;
Extracurricular work in chemistry or a chemical science by the nominee, including science fairs, science clubs, and activities that stimulate the interest of young people in chemistry and related sciences;
A willingness to keep up-to-date in the field, as evidenced by the pursuit of a higher degree in chemistry or a chemical science, enrollment in refresher courses and summer institutes, regular attendance at scientific meetings, membership in professional organizations, and other means of self-improvement;
Evidence of leadership and/or active involvement within the profession.

Establishment & Support: The Division of Chemical Education (DivCHED) established an endowment in 2004 to support Regional Awards for Excellence in High School Teaching in each of the ACS Regions.

Contact Information

Contact information and nomination deadlines vary by ACS Region.

Central
http://www.case.edu/cermacs/awards.html

Great Lakes
http://www.glrm2009.org/awards.html

Middle Atlantic
http://marmacs.org/2008/index.html

Midwest
http://www.mwrm2009.org/awards

Northeast
http://membership.acs.org/n/nerm/

Northwest
http://www.chem.plu.edu/norm2009/awards

Rocky Mountain
http://www.chem.byu.edu/acs

Southeastern
http://www.sermacs2009.org/events/awards/HS_teaching_award.html

Southwest
http://swrm.info/

Western
http://membership.acs.org/W/wrm2008/