The 2016 Teaching Excellence Awards will be held on May 1, which recognizes impactful instructors via student nominations.

The five recipients of the award this year are: Paul Magelli, professor of business administration, Shane Sullivan, professor of air force aerospace studies, Biplab Deka, TA for computer science and Anita Mixon, TA for communications and Brian Quick, professors of communication.

Tara Chattoraj-Mukherjee, sophomore in LAS and Illinois Student Senate communications director, said that the senate’s goal was to get the input of a diverse group of students.

“We worked hard to reach out to all the departments, grad students and professional students,” Chattoraj-Mukherjee said. “We have a diverse group of professors and we’re really proud that we got representation from everyone.”

With over 300 nominations collected between February and March, the Committee of Academic Affairs worked through the nominations to select instructors that helped contribute to the success and growth of their students.

“Students taking the time to write a nomination and support their professors without any self-interest says something to the professor,” Chattoraj-Mukherjee said. “The people they work for are recognizing them.”

The Teaching Excellence Awards are student-driven, with the Illinois Student Senate organizing the banquet, and the student nominators and student senators intend to celebrate and present the awards to their instructors.

“Every professor, at the end of the day, is here and teaching because they care about students,” Chattoraj-Mukherjee said. “It’s what makes Illinois an elite teaching school, and a great school to all students and helps make them successful.”

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A previous version incorrectly stated Biplab Deka as a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Anita Mixon as a professor of communications.