Distinguished Teaching Award Descriptions

Established by former UW-Madison Chancellor Edwin Young in 1973, the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award honors five faculty members for their excellence in teaching.

The Chancellor’s Inclusive Excellence Teaching Award celebrates exemplary achievements in teaching that honor the university’s value of diversity and inclusion as the path to excellence. This award recognizes two outstanding faculty members whose creative and inclusive environments and practices in the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea.

Established in 2019, the Chancellor’s Teaching Innovation Award recognizes the achievements of outstanding instructors (assistant, associate and full professors) who have shown innovation in approach to learning. This award celebrates innovations with significant impact on the University of Wisconsin learner experience.

During its 25-year reunion, the Class of 1955 established a fund to honor professors, especially at the assistant and associate rank, who have made significant teaching contributions to undergraduate students. The Class of 1955 Teaching Excellence Award was first presented in 2004. This award is given in even-numbered years (change made in September 2024).

Legendary economics professor William “Wild Bill” Kiekhofer taught upwards of 70,000 undergraduates during the course of his 38-year UW career. Known nationally for the textbook Economic Principles, Problems, and Policies – one of the best-selling texts of the first half of the 20th century – he was a beloved figure on campus, and before each of his lectures, his students would give him a “skyrocket” cheer. The Kiekhofer Award, which honors an assistant or associate professor in the College of Letters & Science, was established as the UW’s first teaching award shortly after Wild Bill’s death in 1951.

Manufacturer Emil H. Steiger served as the president of the Deltox Grass Rug Company of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, from 1909 until his death in 1929. A passionate supporter of education – and of Wisconsin’s state universities in particular – Steiger sent his two sons, Carl and Emil, to the UW. The younger Emil Steiger became a UW regent in 1952 and served as president of the board of regents from 1959 to 1962. He and Carl created the Emil H. Steiger Teaching Award in 1958 to honor their father. Traditionally, the Steiger Award has been given to a junior faculty member.

As president of the University of Wisconsin from 1903 to 1918, Charles Van Hise developed the doctrine known today as the Wisconsin Idea: the guiding philosophy of UW-Madison’s outreach efforts to extend the borders of the university to touch the lives of people throughout Wisconsin and around the world. The Van Hise Outreach Teaching Award was established in 1990 to honor distinguished teaching by a member of UW-Madison’s faculty.

The Wisconsin Idea Teaching Award recognizes tenure-track assistant, associate, or full professors who have demonstrated exceptional creativity and innovation in their teaching methods, celebrating those who have successfully integrated community engagement or practical applications into their teaching. The award honors the general principle of the Wisconsin Idea, that education should improve people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom. It especially recognizes those in non-traditional teaching fields, which include, but are not limited to, clinical instruction, study abroad, and instruction that incorporates community-based learning.

Formerly the Excellence in Community-Based Learning Teaching Award, this award was renamed and broadened to include more non-traditional teaching areas (change made in September 2024).

The Regents Teaching Excellence Award recognizes outstanding teaching in the UW System. Awards are made in recognition of an outstanding career achievement in teaching.

The Regents Teaching Excellence Award recognizes outstanding teaching in the UW System. Awards are given to an academic department, program or other academic unit which demonstrates exceptional commitment to and effectiveness in teaching.

The James R. Underkofler Teaching Excellence Award, funded by an endowment from the Alliant Energy Foundation, Inc. recognizes and rewards extraordinary undergraduate teachers at UW System universities within Alliant Energy’s service area. The award pays tribute to the dedication of faculty and staff as teachers and their ability to communicate their subject matter effectively and inspire in their students an enthusiasm for learning.

There is currently not a specific call for the faculty award; UW-Madison faculty recipients are chosen from among the faculty award nominations submitted in the fall competition.