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The Sloan-C Fellows Program

Introduction

On 23 December 2009, the Board of Directors of the Sloan Consortium voted to establish the Sloan-C Fellows Program. Recognition as a Sloan-C Fellow is one of unusual professional distinction and is conferred by the Sloan-C Board of Directors upon individual member of the Sloan Consortium who have:

  • outstanding and extraordinary qualifications in the field of online learning;
  • significant experience in online learning or an allied field;
  • a record of distinguished service to Sloan-C or the field; and
  • extraordinary contributions or leadership in the field of online learning.

Excluding the initial year of Fellow appointments (2010), the number of individuals who can be recognized as a Sloan-C Fellow in any one year shall be limited to a total not greater than one percent of the Sloan-C individual membership. As the Sloan-C membership grows over time, the Board of Directors may decrease this annual percentage (for example, to one-half of one percent of the individual membership).

REQUIREMENTS FOR FELLOW RECOGNITION

Fellow recognition is conferred by the Board of Directors in recognition of outstanding contributions to online learning or an allied field. Special attention is given to an individual’s contributions in one or more areas represented by the Sloan-C Pillars.

  • The candidate shall be an active individual member of the Sloan Consortium at the time of nomination.
  • Fellow recognition is an honor that an individual cannot seek. Rather, a nomination must be initiated by another Sloan-C Fellow, a Sloan-C individual member, or an individual affiliated with a Sloan-C institution.
  • Fellow recognition cannot be conferred upon a current member of the Sloan-C Awards Selection Committee.

NOMINATION PROCESS

A Fellow Selection Committee will be appointed by the President of Sloan-C and will have responsibility for managing the nomination process, for evaluating all nominations submitted, and for recommending a limited number of candidates to the Board of Directors for selection. To assure equitable action on these nominations, strict adherence to prescribed procedures is essential. These guidelines have been prepared to assist in the preparation of nominations in accordance with standard procedures.

The Fellow Selection Committee depends on the nominator to furnish all the basic necessary information requested on the nomination form. References should be widely distributed with no more than two from any one institution or community. No current members of the Board of Directors, the Fellow Selection Committee, the Sloan-C Headquarters staff, or the nominator shall act as a reference. The information should be complete, specific and unambiguous because the Fellow Selection Committee must determine the candidate’s qualifications from the documentation submitted.

A nomination shall consist of a completed Fellow Nomination Form supported by confidential reference forms completed by five referees. The Fellow Selection Committee receives nominations, reviews credentials and recommends candidates for approval by the Sloan-C Board of Directors.

Nominees approved by the Sloan-C Board of Directors for Fellow recognition will be announced at the Sloan-C Annual Conference, at which time Fellow certificates and pins are presented in an appropriate ceremony. Advance information on Fellow selection shall be made available, as early as possible, to nominees who are selected and to their nominators. Fellows will be appropriately recognized on the Sloan-C website.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE NOMINATOR

  • Preparation of the Fellow nomination form. All information provided must be entered on the nomination form in a concise and meaningful manner. All information must fit in the space available on the online forms.
  • Solicitation of references. The nominator is responsible for sending a copy of the completed Fellow Nomination Form promptly to those named as references. The nominator is also responsible for ascertaining that the online reference forms have been submitted to the Fellow Selection Committee by the March 1 deadline date.

FELLOW GRADE REFERENCES

Completed reference forms are required from at least five references. All references must be from active members of Sloan-C (either individual members or employees of Sloan-C institutional members). The Confidential Fellow Reference Forms must be submitted to Sloan-C Headquarters on or before March 1. Although five references are required, a safety margin of at least two is recommended so as not to jeopardize the nomination’s completeness by the deadline date.

The selection of references is most important. To qualify as a reference, an individual should be personally acquainted with the candidate’s work and be able to comment incisively. Glowing generalities carry little weight and are discouraged. Where exceptional contributions are cited, corresponding references should be selected to support each area of achievement.

References should be as widely distributed as possible with no more than two from any one institution or community. No member of the Fellow Selection Committee or the Headquarters Staff shall act as a reference for any candidate for Fellow if he or she occupies any of these positions on the date of submission of the reference form. Nominators cannot serve as references for the Fellow nominations they are submitting.

DEADLINE DATE

Nomination forms and a minimum of five Fellow reference forms must be submitted electronically to Sloan-C Headquarters by March 1 of the year in which the recognition is to take place.

RESUBMISSION OF NOMINATIONS

In the event that a nominee is not selected as a Fellow, the nomination will automatically be carried over for consideration in the succeeding year, except that a nomination will not be considered for more than three successive selection cycles. In such instances of carry-over, the nominator will be notified and will be invited to update the nomination.

AVAILABILITY OF INITIAL CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The Call for Nominations for Sloan-C Fellows will be distributed in November 2010. Nomination forms and Fellow reference forms will be available online at that time. The deadline for submitting nominations and reference forms will be 1 March 2011. Individuals selected as Sloan-C Fellows will be recognized at the Sloan-C Annual Conference in Orlando in November 2011.

Please contact Sloan-C Headquarters for further information via e-mail at fellows@sloanconsortium.org.