Ringer Distinguished Professorship

MEMORANDUM

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TO: Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty

FROM: Brenda Tooley, Dean of the College

DATE: November 9, 2005

SUBJECT: Ringer Distinguished Professorship

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We are now in the process of selecting the new Ringer Distinguished Professorship at Cornell College. The Ringer Professorship has recently been established, through the generosity of Jerry ’59 and Carole Ringer and their family, to support excellence in teaching and scholarship, and service to both college and community. The Ringer Professorship recognizes past accomplishments and supports future endeavors; it acknowledges both performance and continuing promise.

The appointment will be for three years. The basis for selection will be exemplary teaching, service and scholarship, with the understanding that we define scholarship in the broad sense appropriate to a liberal arts college, and that service extends beyond the college to the larger community. More particularly, the Ringer Professor should provide leadership in the development of courses and teaching methods supporting active, independent learning by students. He or she should also be active in the shared life of Cornell College.

The Ringer Professor will receive an annual award of $10,000. These funds are to be used at the discretion of the appointee during this three-year period, in consultation with the dean, in ways appropriate to the advancement of his or her work. The allocation may be used to support scholarly endeavors, course release, student research assistance, course design and improvement, summer projects, scholarly travel, or acquisition of books. Up to $5,000 may be used each year as salary supplement. These funds are not intended to support the purchase of equipment, computers, hardware, software, printers, and other computing accessories. (These items can be requested through the College’s regular process for capital requests.)

The Ringer Professor will not be eligible for other Cornell College monetary research awards (except student summer stipends) during his or her tenure in the professorship, which extends from the start of the academic year through the final summer of the third year. He or she will be eligible to receive the standard Dean’s Office faculty development allocation of $400/year.

We welcome self-nominations as well as nominations of colleagues. Brief rationales should suffice. The Advisory Committee on Faculty Development will review the nominations and make recommendations to the Dean and President.

The holder of the Professorship will be expected to file a brief annual report with the Dean summarizing his or her activities and expenditures. During the third year, the appointee shall present a Faculty Lecture on a topic of interest to the campus community.

Please send Nancy Rawson your nominations by April 1, 2006. The award will be announced in early May 2006.