The H. Lee Cooper Core Curriculum Teaching Award was established in 2000 and honors a USI faculty member whose work in University Core Courses (UCC) has been especially creative and successful in furthering UCC goals. Recipients receive a stipend underwritten by longtime and generous University friends, Ann and H. Lee Cooper III.
| 2022 | Leigh Anne Howard | Communication |
| 2022 | Stephanie Young | Communication |
| 2021 | No award given. | |
| 2020 | Jenn Horn | English |
| 2019 | Sakina M. Hughes | History |
| 2018 | Xavia Harrington-Chate | English |
| 2017 | Robert Millard-Mendez | Art |
| 2016 | No award given. | |
| 2015 | Michael Ndemanu | Education |
| 2014 | Aimee Mark | Psychology |
| 2013 | Garret Merriam | Philosophy |
| 2012 | Amie McKibban | Psychology |
| 2011 | Steven Williams | Sociology |
| 2010 | Mary Lyn Stoll | Philosophy |
| 2009 | Barbara Kalvelage | Biology |
| 2008 | Michael Dixon | History |
| 2007 | Kent W. Scheller | Physics |
| 2006 | Charles F. Petranek | Sociology |
| 2005 | Susan Wolfe | Foreign Languages |
| 2004 | Eric von Fuhrmann | English |
| 2003 | Augustine Jay Fredrich | Engineering |
| 2002 | Hilary Braysmith | Art |
| 2001 | Craig McCarron | Mathematics |