In October 1965 Vice President Herman Spivey announced that two annual $500 outstanding teacher awards would be available for Knoxville, one for the Martin Branch, and one for the Medical Units. He requested that the Standing Council on the Improvement of Teaching and Learning develop suggested criteria and procedures to recommend for the giving of the awards. In February 1966 the council distributed ballots to a random sample of alumni of the past five years, a random sample of students, and a random sample of all faculty. A form appeared in the student newspaper through which anyone could nominate a faculty member. The final selection, made by the Standing Council on the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, included students’ rating of the professor’s teaching and a rating by the department head. In 1966 the Alumni Association honored the first two professors, Isabel Tipton (physics) and Dale Cleaver (art history). Wayne Chester was honored at the Martin Branch, and Lester Van Middlesworth received the award for the Medical Units.