A committee of the SPS officers or four selected SPS members (min 1 officer) is set up as the selection committee for nominations. This committee is to determine any specifics for nominations.
Any SPS member can make a nomination of any ASU Faculty or full time instructor. This is not limited to the physics department. Nominations must be a full written statement of why this person deserves the award, how they have made an impact on the instruction, or education of a large group of persons in SPS. The award is not designed to honor persons for help to an individual or small group. An impact of overall importance to SPS members must be shown.
The award committee is responsible for reading through all nominations and determining if they appropriately demonstrate that the nominated individual has meet the required level of teaching "excellence" to deserve the award. This determination is to be based on the written statement in the nomination only. The committee can reject any nomination that they feel does not meet the expectations the award requires. This also permits the committee to reject all nominations, thus not presenting an award for the year, if they feel no suitable nomination is submitted. The committee can present multiple nominations for the same professor, so long as they are not repetitive of one another and each meets the expectations of the award.
After committee approval all remaining nominations are to be posted in the SPS room, along with an emailing if appropriate. A ballot is to be left open for one week with all the nominate individuals and a "no award for this year" option. The committee will determine the voting method and count all votes, Although members names may be taken on ballots for verification, all votes are secret outside of the committee. To win the award the nominee must receive a minimum of 50% of the votes submitted. If a single nominee does not receive 50% of the vote, or the option of no award for the year does, then no award is to be given for that year. This standard is to assure that SPS is in full agreement that the nominated individual should receive the award.
The award can be presented at anytime after SPS has determined it will be. The award is generally presented at the physics department end of year department award ceremony. The committee should contact the office to arrange the presentation at this event. At this time the paper certificate is presented to the winner and the name, year and class the instructor was teaching when they performed the activities awarded for are to be engraved on the golden opus plaque in the SPS room.