2026 Nancy Rutherford Teaching Innovation Award

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The 2026 Nancy Rutherford Teaching Innovation Award

 

Submit through Oxford Abstract by April 1, 2026

 

The 2026 Theme: Collaboration with Industry and Community Partners

The ITAA Teaching Innovation and Resources Committee invites submissions for the 2026 Nancy Rutherford Teaching Innovation Award. This award encourages the development and dissemination of innovative teaching strategies that address emerging issues in the apparel and textile fields. Applicants are invited to submit a paper that meets the following criteria: 

 

Applicants are invited to submit a paper that meets the following criteria:

  • Fit with the 2026 theme
  • Appropriate for delivery in undergraduate curricula.
  • Reporting of learning outcomes. Collection of student data must have been approved by the home institution’s review board for human subjects.
  • Teaching strategy was delivered within the last year and a half (Fall 2024-Spring 2026) 
  • Submissions will be accepted from instructors working independently as well as from faculty members who have worked collaboratively to develop the teaching strategy. This award is also open to graduate students. All collaborators on the teaching strategy must be ITAA members. 
  • Winners must agree to present their paper at the 2026 ITAA conference. 

 

Theme:

In today’s rapidly evolving world, strong partnerships with industry and community partners have become essential for fashion programs in universities and colleges to provide relevant and up-to-date curricula to ensure students’ competencies in the industry. By teaming up with industry and community partners, higher education institutions can better prepare students for the workforce, tackle pressing social issues, and create lasting, practical solutions (Bridgstock, 2019). Collaborating in this way also helps students gain valuable real-world experience, develop key skills, and build connections that improve their career prospects (Jackson, 2016). Some examples of such partnerships include service-learning projects, industry and community partners-driven case studies,

 

The theme of the 2026 Nancy Rutherford Teaching Innovation Award is Collaborating with Industry and Community Partners. We welcome submissions related to the topics of successful practices that involve industry and community partners in curricula, course, and/or learning material development and delivery.

 

References:

Bridgstock, R. (2019). The university and the knowledge network: A new educational model for 21st-century learning and employability. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(1), 6-19.DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2018.1534199


Jackson, D. (2016). Re-conceptualizing graduate employability: The importance of pre-professional identity. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(5), 925-939.  DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2016.1139551

 

Evaluation Criteria: 

  • Thematic Fit: Appropriateness of the materials to the theme. 
  • Audience: Appropriateness of teaching materials to the audience. 
  • Innovativeness: Originality of the materials and approach. 
  • Effectiveness: Learning objectives are clearly articulated and results are measured and reported. 
  • Presentation Quality: Clarity, detail, and completeness of teaching materials and activities. 


Submission:

Submissions are due by April 1, 2026. Submit your proposals using Oxford Abstracts unique link that will be available prior to the March 1 open submission date.  Submissions will be double-blind reviewed by the Teaching Innovations and Resources Committee. In addition to the international recognition, stipends will be awarded as follows: $500 for first  place; $300 for second place; and $200 for third place. 

 

Follow-Up:

Authors will be notified electronically of the outcome of the review at the email address of the corresponding author. Only the corresponding author will receive the acceptance notification emails; it is the responsibility of the corresponding author to notify other authors. Decisions should be made by May 15th.  If the paper is accepted, authors will be notified of (1) their oral presentation and (2) the instruction on preparing the proceedings paper and uploading it to the ISU Digital Repository after the conference ends.

 

Submission Eligibility:

Only ITAA members are qualified to submit papers to the Nancy Rutherford Teaching Innovation Award Competition. Instructional materials for the teaching strategy must have been developed for, and delivered in, textile and apparel or related undergraduate courses at a post-secondary institution. Submissions may not have been previously published elsewhere. Author(s) must be the original developer(s) of the submitted teaching strategy.

 

Submissions will be accepted from instructors working independently as well as from faculty members who have worked collaboratively to develop the teaching strategy. This award is also open to graduate students. All submitting authors must be current ITAA members. Submissions will be double-blind reviewed under the supervision of the Chair of the Teaching Innovation and Resources Committee. All submitted papers with assessment data must have proof of approval by a university’s institutional review board for human subjects.

 

Submission Guidelines:

All submissions must be in PDF format. Prepare two files, as follows:

 

File 1 - Title page in PDF format with submission title, author name(s), institutional affiliation, program, keywords and contact information. Name this file following this format: Abbreviated Title_RuthTchAward_File1.

 

Follow this format for the title page:

 

This Is the Title of the Submission 

 

 Author Name(s), Some University, USA 

 

Author Program Name 

 

Keywords: list up to three keywords 

 

Lead author email address 

 

File 2 – One file in PDF format that includes all information as outlined below with NO identifiable author information to ensure blind review. Name this file following this format: Abbreviated Title_RuthTchAward_File2. Due to space limitations on the ITAA website, this file may NOT exceed 10MB. If applicable, authors are encouraged to include links to external web sites where large files such as student assignment examples can be found. 

 

Submission of papers (File 2) for review should include the following: 

  • Title page which includes title of the submission and keywords ONLY. 
  • Abstract (maximum 150 words) 
  • Project description, including: 
  • An introduction explaining: 
  • course(s) for which this activity is appropriate and where course(s) fits in the curriculum. 
  • instructor and students’ knowledge/skills required to complete activity. 
  • recommended format (in-class or homework activity, individual or group-based, online activity, etc.) 
  • Detailed description of the activity including: 
  • clear explanation of integration of how the theme is integrated into the activity 
  • learning objectives, direct and indirect assessment tools 
  • directions and resources needed to complete the activity 
  • evaluation process 
  • Conclusion explaining: 
  • number of times the activity has been delivered the course 
  • changes that have been made to the activity (if any) and rationale 
  • assessment of learning outcome(s) results (students’ quotes or reflections about the activity are recommended) 
  • recommendations/advantages/disadvantages of using this activity 

 

Note: File 2 materials must not contain any information that identifies the author(s). 

 

File 3 – Documentation of human subjects’ approval.

 

Name the files as follows: Abbreviated Title_RuthTchAward_File3. Upload via the Oxford Abstract Portal for the Nancy Rutherford Award.


SUBMISSION FOR THE CONFERENCE GENERAL CALL

You may also, simultaneously, submit a two-page abstract of the paper to the general call for papers for the conference. Your abstract and full paper should have the same title.

 

Full papers not selected as winners will be reviewed under the general call but ONLY if the two-page abstract is submitted separately to the Concept, Research and Teaching Scholarship general call. It is the responsibility of the authors to complete this separate submission process. Please see instructions for submitting to the Research, Teaching, Concept Abstract Call and note that the deadline for submitting an abstract to the general call is also April 1.

 

QUESTIONS?

Contact Sherry Schofield, Executive Director at itaasherry@gmail.com or VP of Education, Hye-Shin Kim at hskim@udel.edu.