Faculty Awards

Azusa Pacific University faculty are scholars and mentors committed to helping students become purpose-driven servants who will make a positive impact on society. The university presents a number of awards to recognize particular faculty members who personify this commitment.

Excellent Teaching Awards

Each year, Azusa Pacific University presents an award to each of two worthy faculty members. They are The Chase A. Sawtell Inspirational Faculty Award and The Teaching Excellence Award, which were funded for two years initially by the Sears Roebuck Foundation. Each award is accompanied by a memento and an honorarium.

Criteria for the Chase A. Sawtell Inspirational Faculty Award

The recipient shall be a full-time APU faculty member on an extended contract; shall model significant faculty involvement in the lives of students; shall have a strong Christian influence in the lives of students, peers, alumni, and administrative staff; and shall be seen as living a life of service to others, affirming the worth of each person as a unique individual created by God. Past recipients are not eligible.

Criteria for the Teaching Excellence Award

The recipient shall be a full-time faculty member on an extended contract who has demonstrated excellence in the classroom and who has made a positive impact on student learning in her or his academic unit. Candidates may be selected on the basis of their IDEA scores, innovative teaching strategies, unique course design, and/or effective mentoring of other faculty at the university. Past recipients are not eligible.

Past Recipients

Scholarly Achievement Awards

The awards for scholarly achievement are given to faculty members on extended contracts—one whose primary assignment is teaching graduate courses, and one whose primary assignment is teaching undergraduate course—who value and promote scholarship through discovery, integration, or application, and actively support dissemination of that work through presentations and publications. The individuals selected are ones who recognize the linkages between active scholarship, teaching, student learning, and service. Past recipients are not eligible.

Past Recipients

Alice V. Watkins Imago Dei Ethos Award

The Alice V. Watkins Imago Dei Ethos Award, named for Alice V. Watkins, PhD, former dean of the School of Education and Behavioral Studies, recognizes full-time faculty who play a substantial role in advancing diversity efforts at APU. Candidates who are on extended contract may be selected on the basis of curriculum design or pedagogy that supports diverse learners, scholarly research in the area of diversity, mentoring historically underrepresented students, faculty, or staff, leadership of, or participation in, diversity organizations that positively impact APU, and encouraging greater awareness of opportunities for inclusion. Past recipients are not eligible.

Past Recipients

Community Engagement Faculty Award

This award recognizes a full-time faculty member who has clearly integrated APU’s Four Cornerstones—Christ, Scholarship, Community, and Service—in ways that significantly contribute to the reciprocal partnership between APU and the public and private sectors. Candidates may be selected on the basis of community-engaged scholarship, community-based research, academic service-learning, work that addresses issues of social justice, advancement of the university’s engagement in civic and democratic values, and efforts that inspire greater involvement in community engagement and service to others.

Note: This award, renamed in 2018, was previously known as the Service-Learning Cornerstone Award, and past recipients of either award are not eligible.

Past Recipients

University Leadership Award

The recipient shall be a full-time faculty member on an extended contract who has served the university by advancing the vision of her or his academic unit or the university at large. Candidates may be selected on the basis of their effective leadership, effective service on councils or committees, or other contributions to the APU community. Past recipients are not eligible.

Past Recipients 

Note: This information is current for the 2024-25 academic year; however, all stated academic information is subject to change. Refer to the current Academic Catalog for more information.