Eligibility Requirements

Nominees must:

• Be physical therapists or individuals not eligible for APTA membership who, from the starting date of their first academic appointment as core faculty until the time of nomination (December 1), have been actively engaged in teaching physical therapist (professional or postprofessional) or physical therapist assistant students for at least 2, but not more than 5 years.
• Have a full-time academic faculty appointment of any rank.
• Be employed in an academic setting within 1 or more accredited physical therapy education programs or an advanced level program for physical therapists, from which students earn an academic degree.
• Possess distinct expertise in at least 1 subject area to which research and teaching efforts have been directed.

Criteria for Selection

• Distinct expertise in at least one subject area to which research and teaching efforts have been directed.
• Past, current, and potential contributions to scholarly activities.
• Teaching excellence in the academic setting.
• Commitment to service to the institution and to the profession.

A strong application should demonstrate the following:

Distinct expertise in at least one subject area to which research and teaching efforts have been directed.

• Use of expertise to generate knowledge in the subject area(s)
• Use of expertise to nurture future clinicians in the subject area(s)
• Continued clinical competence in the area(s) of expertise

Past, current, and potential contributions to scholarly activities.

• Publications
• Presentations
• Other

Teaching excellence in the academic setting based on narrative or peer review document included in the submission.

• Creativity of learner-directed strategies
• Student engagement in the learning process
• Consideration of the variety of learning styles
• Feedback from objective and subjective measures

Commitment to service to the institution and to the profession.

• Service at various levels of the academic institution
• Mentorship and advisement of students and faculty
• Service/involvement at various levels of the association

Letters of support that are positive, cite specific examples of contributions reflected in CV and provide additional information on depth, scope and quality in a convincing manner.

What Recipients Receive

An award and monetary award of $1,500 will be presented to the recipient by APTA's Board of Directors at an APTA national event and an official announcement will appear in an association publication.

Submission Requirements

During the online process, the following documents will be required for upload:

• Current curriculum vitae or resume of the nominee
• A letter of nomination that specifically focuses on the strengths of the nominee in relation to the award criteria and includes descriptions of any previous academic appointments held by the nominee, not to exceed three pages. Letters of nomination cannot serve as one of the required letters of support.
• Two letters of support obtained from the following: a physical therapist colleague from the nominee's institution and a current or former student who is representative of an academic level of teaching in which the nominee has been engaged, not to exceed two pages each (Note: If more than two letters of support are received, only the first two will be considered. The nominator will be asked to remove additional letters.).
• (For self-nominations) A narrative (not to exceed two pages) completed by the nominee highlighting specific accomplishments made as a faculty member
• (For nominators) A direct peer-review of the nominee's teaching ability (not to exceed two pages)

Submit a Nomination

The nominations call for the Honors and Awards program is open from September 1- December 1. Nominations must be submitted through our online portal by December 1; late submissions will not be considered. Selected recipients and their nominators will be notified in May.

Additional Resources

For questions regarding the nomination process or the award, please contact honorsandawards@apta.org.