AAG Award for Program Excellence

2025 AAG Award for Masters Program Excellence

The September 30, 2024 deadline has passed.  New applications will not be accepted until next year.  Please monitor the website for when the application window reopens.
Final submissions from selected finalist programs are due the following January 31.

This award recognizes excellence in Geography programs at U.S. colleges and universities. The annual award and cash prize honors Geography departments and Geography programs within blended departments that have significantly enhanced the prominence and reputation of Geography as a discipline and demonstrated the characteristics of a strong and engaged academic unit. The award honors non-Ph.D. granting Geography programs at the associate, baccalaureate, and master levels. AAG recognizes that these programs play an important role in educating future geographers and promoting the discipline to a wider world, but that they tend not to be included in national rankings within the Academy.

Program excellence may reflect the cumulative work of several years or major contributions in a shorter period of time, and criteria for evaluating nominated programs is not limited to a single characteristic. Nominations are submitted through Regional Divisions and undergo preliminary and final stages of evaluation by the Program Award Selection Committee, the members of which are appointed by the AAG Council. AAG welcomes evidence that nominated geography programs are committed to the “Healthy Departments Initiative;” the preparation of geographers for professional careers; and actions that promote diversity, improve inclusion, and broaden participation of historically under-represented faculty and students.

Eligibility and Award Categories

Non-PhD granting geography programs in the United States are eligible for nomination. The AAG Award for program Excellence consists of three categories of recognition: (1) geography programs that offer no higher than an associate’s degree (AA/AAS/AASCET); (2) geography programs that offer no higher than an undergraduate degree (BA/BS); (3) geography programs that offer no higher than a master-level degree (MA/MS). These differentiated awards ensure that nominees are evaluated fairly and appropriate to the different roles and expectations of undergraduate and graduate programs. A geography program can only be nominated for one level or category of award. There is no limit to the number of times a geography program can be nominated, but a program that wins an award must wait five years before being nominated again. In light of the significant work involved in reviewing nominations, the award process would alternate annually between AA/AAS/AASCET, BA/BS, and MA/MS programs. Annual calls for nominations will state the award category for that year.

Criteria

The Award Committee will consider many criteria in selecting Geography programs of excellence, including but not limited to the characteristics listed below:

1. Compelling vision, strong leadership, shared democratic governance, and collegiality among faculty, staff, and students
2. Excellence in instruction, student mentorship, and pedagogical innovation, adn curriculum development
3. Successful student placement with employers, graduate school, or other opportunities
4. Pursuit of scholarship, intellectual curiosity, and the exchange of ideas through publication, conference participation, and other means
5. Promotion of diversity, intercultural understanding, and participation of underrepresented groups
6. Active participation in the broader discipline and its regional and national organizations
7. Engagement with local to global communities (can include alumni and other program stakeholders)
8. Enthusiastic promotion of geography on and off campus

Preliminary Nominations

The nomination procedure consists of preliminary and final stages.
Preliminary Nominations for the AAG Award for Program Excellence may come in the form of self-nominations directly from the Chairs or Heads of geography programs, and/or Regional Divisions may also submit Preliminary Nominations for geography programs in their respective regions. Submission of nominees from each Regional Division will be the responsibility of the Chair/President of that Regional Division. Regional Division Chairs/Presidents shall work with their members, steering committees, and Regional Councilors to identify nominees. Regional Divisions do not have to nominate every year (nor in every category), and they may nominate as many or as few programs from their region as they wish.

Preliminary Nominations should be no more than two pages as an unrestricted PDF and explain why the program has been nominated. Preliminary Nominations will be reviewed by the Program Excellence Award Committee, who will select a list of finalists. If a program is nominated which is represented on the Program Excellence Award Committee, that member will remove him/herself from the committee for the year in question and be replaced by an alternate.

Preliminary Nominations must be received by the September 30th deadline (Eastern Standard Time).

Final Submissions

The Program Excellence Award Committee will then invite programs selected as finalists to submit a nomination dossier of no more than 10 pages of text and materials, plus up to 3 letters of support that do not exceed 2 pages in length, (single-spaced, Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman 11-pt fonts are acceptable) that addresses the accomplishments and merits of the program. The 10-page limit includes appendices and other materials, but excludes the max. 3 supporting letters. If a dossier is submitted that is longer than the 10-page text and materials limit, it will be disqualified. A program is free to decline to participate. There is flexibility and choice in what supporting documentation can be included in the dossier, although the size of the dossier will be strictly enforced. Supporting documents might include:(1) materials from previous annual reports, academic program reviews, or professional certification reviews (if applicable); (2) other evidence of achievement in the areas of teaching, scholarship, service, public engagement, and student leadership. This evidence can be in the form of both quantitative and qualitative assessments. The 3 letters of recommendation (maximum) can come from current and former students, administrators and colleagues, and other parties familiar with and affected by the nominated program (e.g., nonprofit organizations, government agencies, private business and industry, community groups, and educational associations).

Final submissions from invited departments must be received by the January 31st deadline (Eastern Standard Time). Final submissions must be a single, unrestricted PDF file.  The AAG can provide additional guidance to finalists, as they prepare their dossiers. All finalists are encouraged to contact [email protected] for this guidance.

Selections

The Program Excellence Award Committee will review the invited nomination submissions and will decide the final recipient within the active award category for that particular year. As with the bestowing of all AAG awards, this Committee may decline to make an award in any given year and in any given category. Recipients of Awards for Program Excellence will receive a cash prize of $2,000 and a certificate of recognition. The award is presented at the AAG Annual Meeting.

The Program Excellence Award Committee has the authority to issue the award to more than one program in a single year and designate Honorable Mentions when warranted, although Honorable Mentions would not come with a financial prize. Awardees, Honorable Mentions, and Final Nominees will be recognized publicly in AAG publications, print and online. The programs may be invited to participate in a special session at an AAG meeting organized as part of the Healthy Departments Initiative.

Finally, AAG will prepare a letter of recognition and press release announcing recipients of AAG Award for Program Excellence. The letter and press release will be distributed to the recognized university for media relations purposes and informing upper administrators of the importance of the Award for Program Excellence.

AAG Award for Program Excellence Committee Member Selection

The AAG Award for Program Excellence Selection Committee will consist of 3 members who serve 3 year staggered terms. As with all AAG Committees, a list of possible nominees for the Selection Committee will be brought by the AAG Committee on Committees to the AAG Council for discussion, possible amendment, and final vote of approval. National and Regional Councillors are encouraged to submit names of possible committee member nominees for consideration by the Committee on Committees. The Selection Committee should not include two members from the same regional division of the AAG. Selection Committee members are not restricted to those scholar-teachers working at BA/BS and MA/MS programs, but they should be able to appreciate the unique challenges and achievements at those types of academic units. Any current or former member of a nominated program should be recused from the Selection Committee and replaced with an alternate member. The AAG Committee on Committees is responsible for proposing the name of an alternate member of the Selection Committee at the same time as the three regular Committee member appointments.

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