Guide to Promotion and Tenure - Scholarship: Research and Creative or Professional Practice

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Scholarship - Research and Creative or Professional Practice

In this Section

Expectations

Developing a Scholarly Program

Preparing for Publication, Performance or Exhibition

Managing Your Time and Priorities

Building a Professional Reputation

Recordkeeping  

Expectations 

To hold a tenured position at the University of Oregon, faculty members are expected to excel in research, teaching and service. What distinguishes a research university - and an American Association of Universities (AAU) member in particular - from other institutions of higher learning is its advancement of a discipline or profession by the contribution of new knowledge. What justifies the teaching load and research resources on this campus is the steady, regular expenditure of time and effort in research and creativity in the various disciplines. Therefore, your scholarly accomplishments in your discipline over the course of each year are a primary basis for evaluation and promotion and tenure.

These accomplishments may take the form of traditional scholarship and be measured by publication of significant articles or books. They may also be achieved in other forms of distinguished scientific, artistic, professional, and creative production and performance. In all cases, the work that matters criterially is a record of completed accomplishments that have been vetted through significant, established processes of peer review.

In order to be awarded tenure at this institution you must show evidence of a productive and independent creative mind; you must make significant, sustained contributions in your field; you must be continuously and effectively engaged in innovative creative activity of high quality and significance. In order to meet these standards you must do the following, resulting in concrete peer-reviewed accomplishments appropriate to your field or discipline:

• Steadily conceive and pursue significant areas of new research, production, or performance in your field.
• Plan your time to allow sustained work on your individual projects while still meeting teaching and service obligations and standards.
• Establish a respected reputation in your field.
• Build a compelling record of research or creative accomplishments.

You should discuss what constitutes research in your field with your department or unit head and with other members of your discipline in and beyond this university. You need to understand early on in your contracted period, the expectations and standards of performance by which you will be evaluated. If your field of study is highly specialized or you are the only expert on campus in that area, you should discuss with your unit head the forms, forums, and areas of innovative work in your field. The following list of professional growth, scholarly activities, creative and artistic achievements is considered evidence of sustained contribution to one's field:

1) Peer reviewed research or creative accomplishments

a) Publications of significance and quality

b) Peer reviewed works of art, such as painting, sculpture, design, planning, architecture, musical composition, poetry, fiction, drama, dance, photography, and film

c) Peer reviewed public performance, music recitals, concerts, conducting, theater performance and production, dance performance and production, radio or television production

d) Peer reviewed exhibitions, commissions, acceptance of work for permanent collections

The remaining items in this list contribute to the scholarly profile, but they do not suffice alone or replace in any measure the peer reviewed expectations in (1) above.

2) Research in progress andsubstantially planned work

3) Participation in conferences, conventions, seminars, and professional meetings - reading papers, holding office, serving on committees or on editorial board

4) Awareness of current developments inthe faculty member's profession

5) Association with organizations and groups that will result in professional improvement to the participant and bring recognition to the university

6) Professional consultation

7) Regular and constructive use of sabbaticals and leaves of absence

8) Recognized evidence of scholarliness, such as special awards, scholarly citations, and the re-publication of work

9) Scope and depth of scholarship as revealed in public lectures, book reviews, special circumstances and discussions

 

Developing a Scholarly Program  Back to top

Your scholarly accomplishments will be evaluated for their quality, impact on the field (for example, work that opens new lines of investigation), and future promise. This means your work needs to be programmatic and progressive - it is expected to unfold, with one contribution leading to another.

Each discipline is unique in terms of what kind of scholarly contribution is most valued, be it a book or journal articles, empirical or theoretical work, or creative or professional practice. But in all cases, the work that counts must be fully completed and it must be peer reviewed. Your department head and colleagues can advise you about these criteria for accomplishment, and you should use wisdom in shaping the direction and scope of your scholarly activities. You may find it useful to link up with senior faculty in developing your program of research. But while a mentor can be valuable, it is important to emphasize that ultimate responsibility for your research success lies entirely with you.

Whatever particular track you follow, be sure to work in ways that clearly identify you and your intellectual contributions in moving forward the agenda of your discipline. Inspite of the diversity in scholarly expectations, several rules hold across most disciplines:

• In most cases, publication of general-audience books and textbooks does not count heavily as scholarly contribution. The writing of a textbook is generally viewed as a teaching rather than a scholarly accomplishment, unless reviews or colleagues' letters attest to its unique scholarly contributions. A textbook that significantly changes the teaching methodology for your discipline may also be considered a scholarly contribution. Highly original texts for general audiences are taken seriously in programs such as journalism and creative writing if they are highly acclaimed. The burden of the proof of scholarly value is upon you.
• Invited chapters in general do not count as much as articles in refereed journals in fields where journal publication is important since some edited books often do not undergo the rigorous peer review that journals require.
• Work that is redundant, derivative, or too narrow in scope might not be considered a significant contribution. Conversely, work that contains too many unrelated interests may be seen as dabbling and lacking theme or focus.
• Work done in collaboration with someone else, in particular senior colleagues, is difficult to evaluate; questions might be raised about the nature of your independent contribution. You, your research colleagues, and peers in your profession will need to be able to document your individual contributions. In some fields this is done strictly by order of authorship but additional information on the details of the contributions is typically necessary. If in your field almost all work is co-authored, it is important to be clearly identified as the primary author when that is the case.
• Work in newly defined, unconventional, or interdisciplinary fields is encouraged but can be difficult to evaluate. It may be important or desirable to present work that departs from the conventional stories of your discipline. Discuss with your department head and dean ways to publish significant work of this nature.
• Sporadic, especially "wonderful but fifth year only," work does not constitute sustained contribution to one's field. A record of production that looks like a "pre-tenure bubble" might be difficult to support.

Early in your career at the University of Oregon, find out what your discipline expects in the way of publication or performance. Every department must have promotion and tenure criteria that have been reviewed and approved by their dean and by Academic Affairs. It is your responsibility to become familiar with these documents and to plan your research goals with those expectations in mind. All approved P& T guidelines are available online.

 

Preparing for Publication, Performance, or Exhibition  Back to top

In consideration of where, when, and what to publish, perform, or exhibit the following are key elements in the assessment of your scholarship and contribution:

• Significance and Impact

  Get to know the leading publications in your field and in related sub-fields. Prepare your work for the most significant and appropriate outlets in your field - for example, if journal publication is important in your field, send your work first to the most respected peer-reviewed journal. The prestige of the journals where you publish influences the assessment of your reputation. For those fields that are primarily book oriented, pay attention to which publishers are regarded as the strongest in your area. Submit your book manuscripts to those top presses. The quality of your publisher will make a difference at evaluation time and in your overall career and professional standing. In performance and exhibitions, the quality and standing of the venue requires similar consideration.

• Audience

  In choosing which journal or press to approach, make conscious decisions about the particular audience you want your work to reach. If your work is interdisciplinary, or if it has implications for a variety of subfields within your discipline, or if it has applied implication (for teachers, for example), you might want to have some papers or publications which address each of these audiences. The same deliberate considerations about audience are essential for both performance and exhibition.

• Timing

  Publish your work as promptly as you can so that wide groups of scholars and professionals can learn about it, cite it, and provide helpful critical responses which will aid in shaping your future work. How often your work is cited, and by whom, will become a measure of the impact of your work. Begin the process of building visibility early and keep the door open for important criticism that you may need to respond to in your work. Do not wait until a book is completely finished before earmarking a piece for professional communication. Avoid publishing too many small, incomplete pieces of work which in and of themselves might not be considered significant.

• Polish

  Have your manuscript in good shape in format and substance before submitting it for publication. Keep in mind that extreme perfectionism is not a useful expenditure of time given that most reviewers and editors ask for revisions by the author.

• Quantity and Quality

  Review of your research profile will include a look at the extent of publication or creative practice and the quality and impact of those pieces that form the core of your profile. In most disciplines and for most faculties there are commonly understood expectations regarding the extent of publication or creative practice that one would ordinarily see. You should not ignore the standards for quantity in your field. However, it is important to emphasize that quantity alone is not sufficient to recommend or deny tenure. The quality and impact of your work is the more significant factor in evaluating your research profile.

Engage the most respected scholars in your own or other departments in all stages of your research, writing, and publication. Colleagues can be very helpful about the criteria for achievement in the field and about the reputation of journals in your field and in related sub-disciplines. To the extent possible, develop professional relationships which involve reading and commenting upon each other's draft manuscripts. This kind of reaction and response will help you get your written work in the best possible shape before submission to refereed journals. The high quality of your departmental peers is one of the principal reasons to be at an AAU university like the University of Oregon. Using one another's expertise can be very beneficial and mutually rewarding. In fields where publishing is not the norm, discuss with successful colleagues the kinds of galleries, theaters, or other venues you should use, which are the equivalents, in a sense, of high quality presses and refereed journals.

 

Managing Your Time and Priorities  Back to top

The professional role of a faculty member in a major research university focuses on research and teaching, but also includes administration, professional and public service, and in some cases, applied activities such as clinical practice.

The foremost concern for junior faculty is to show evidence of a productive and creative mind, primarily through your peer reviewed accomplishments. For most fields this means published research but in fields like art, dance, journalism, architecture, music, literature, and drama, it means continuous and effective engagement in distinguished, unique and peer reviewed creative accomplishments of high quality and significance.

Faced with this array of multiple responsibilities, you must make daily decisions concerning participation, what meetings should you attend, and in what aspects of organizational life should you become involved? The university calendar is set up primarily around your teaching activities and your daily life is most visibly organized around that calendar - when classes begin, when courses meet, and when grades are due. Since the UO quarter schedule allows no lengthy chunk of time free from classes during the school year, the responsibility falls on you to organize your time to make room for your own scholarly or creative accomplishments.

• Plan what you can accomplish during the teaching year and what you can do only in the periods free from teaching. Try to balance your commitments so that equal time is devoted to research and teaching.

• Develop an overall five-year plan for your own scholarly development, with each year spent working toward a subset of your overall goals.

• Plan what you want to accomplish by the Third Year Review and contract renewal process, and what you need to have completed by the time of tenure evaluation.

• Develop a research agenda:
  
  
  • Looking at the academic calendar, plan time during terms and courses to collect data. For example, if you are faced with particularly heavy teaching responsibilities one term, determine when you can make time weekly to collect data or to do library research so that when more open blocks of time become available to you, you are ready to begin writing.
  
  
  • Looking at the calendar year, block out times to write, and make sure you are ready to do so when those designated periods of time arrive.
  
  
  • Keep in mind the yearly cycle of deadlines for conference and grant-proposal submissions and any annual deadlines for papers. Keep in mind the long timeline involved in abstracts for meetings and the prolonged process of first piloting or testing material and ideas at conferences and later submitting them for publication.
  
  
  • Discuss with your department head the possibility of a teaching load that might better accommodate your research needs. Having a smaller size class or a repeat class, for example, can be a great help at some career stages.

• Protect your research agenda:
  
  
  • Consider those weekly blocks of time to work on your own research activities just as inviolable as your teaching hours: do not give them up. For example, in scheduling student appointments, keep a reasonable number of hours open for students, but keep to your own scheduled research hours as well.
  
  
  • Earmark sufficient and high-quality time for your own scholarly activities. Some people work best in whole day blocks of time; others find mornings the best time to write. Although the scheduling of classes must be aimed first at student needs, work within reasonable alternatives in scheduling your classes.
  
  
  • Schedule meetings and appointments with these considerations in mind to the extent possible. Use these times well. Do not use these precious blocks of time to do other work that has spilled over into the time allotted to your own research. Guard your research times as if they are actual classes or appointments and cannot be rescheduled.
  
  
  • Even early in your career you may be called upon to do committee and administrative service. While this work is useful and important both to you and to the university, you have to carefully monitor your workload. It is better to pull your weight on a small number of committees than to be on many only as a "phantom" or unreliable participant. If you are having trouble drawing these lines or if you feel you are being over-selected, consult your department head or your dean for help.

• Try to arrange some leave time in order to maximize opportunities to work on your research.
  
  
  • Apply for a grant with some release time from teaching, or for a Summer Research Award, which would allow for a non-teaching summer free to write or pursue your research. To apply for a Summer Research Award, contact the Office of Research and Faculty Development, (ORFD) (ext. 3196).
  
  
  • Familiarize yourself with the kinds of grants and fellowships available to scholars in your field and at your career stage; pursue appropriate opportunities aggressively. Colleagues and unit heads can be helpful and knowledgeable.
  
  
  • Faculty who are members of under-represented groups and women faculty often face extraordinary demands (committee service, community commitments, etc.). It is especially important for all faculty to take full advantage of the advice and resources designed to promote scholarly productivity.
  
  
  • By creating a long-term plan and actively designating time for research, you can build a progressive research program.
  
  

Building a Professional Reputation    Back to top

Get to know your departmental colleagues and those colleagues elsewhere in the university who do work related to your own. It is vital that these colleagues are familiar with your work asthey will be called upon to evaluate your contribution to your department and your discipline -they need to know your scholarly and professional work, and have a sense of you as a lively, responsive, thinking scholar and professional. These colleagues can put you in contact with other professionals who are interested in and knowledgeable about your field and can suggest your name for a variety of professional opportunities both on campus and beyond. Talking over your research and teaching ideas with colleagues can be beneficial as they can encourage you about what is new and valuable enough to write, formally advise you on the best journals, and read and criticize your drafts. There are many ways you can get to know your colleagues:

• Know their work: read their recent work and discuss it with them. Even professionally secure colleagues like to know that their research is stimulating to others and that they are not being ignored by the next generation.

• Attend department or university-wide lectures given by your colleagues.

• Join or initiate lunch time and over-coffee discussions.

• Seek your colleagues' advice about your work. If you hesitate to overburden them when asking them to read a draft, specify a section or a topic that you would like their comments on.

• If your department holds colloquia, ask to give a presentation, especially if your plans include a talk at a subsequent professional meeting: you have here an excellent opportunity to rehearse that talk before a friendly audience.

• Serve on departmental committees where you can develop collegial relationships, picking and choosing carefully since you must at the same time keep a wary eye on the time commitment involved.

• If your department has a faculty mentoring program, do all you can to establish rapport with your mentor. If that relationship does not work to your satisfaction, seek another mentor. If your department does not have a mentoring program, seek a mentor anyway.

Talk to your department head regularly. As department head, your senior colleague is very interested in seeing your career move forward in a timely fashion and is a very helpful resource in your development as a scholar and professional. Your department head will play an important role in your evaluation so you must keep this person informed about your accomplishments and seek their support in the choices you make. You must also consult your department head about any potential problems. If, for example, you feel that there is a bias against you, your field, or your methodology, or you perceive reservations about your performance or productivity in your department, talk through those concerns to find ways to resolve them.

Your national and international reputation as a scholar will play an important part in your evaluation for tenure. Gaining that positive reputation during the relatively short period of time before the tenure review requires some careful planning. One of the most important steps to developing visibility has been discussed earlier: publish in highly regarded refereed journals, or with high quality presses, as appropriate. Additional ways to improve your reputation outside the UO include:

• Attend meetings and conferences where you can establish contacts.

• Present papers at conferences. Conference paper presentation generally requires less lead time than journal publication; while such papers are not weighted particularly heavily in the tenure-review process, presentations do make your work known and allow you feedback that may be valuable in producing a superior piece for publication in a respected journal. Your presentation will also give your senior peers from other institutions a glimpse of your teaching capabilities.

• Participate in national or international networks of colleagues in your particular area of specialty or set up a conference or interest group to facilitate building such a network if none exists.

• Establish mail, electronic, and phone contact with professionals beyond this campus who are involved in work similar to or related to your own. Interact with them in the same mutually helpful ways you do with your colleagues on campus. Again you need to strike a balance: in your early years you need to monitor the amount of time you spend on attendance at meetings, since these too can cut into your scholarly activities; yet the contacts you make are important for you professionally.

Recordkeeping   Back to top

As noted earlier, you must not only build your reputation but be able to provide ample evidence of it. It is important that you keep a thorough record of your professional achievements, updating it regularly. The principal vehicle for this recordkeeping is your vita.

• Include in your vita all peer reviewed accomplishments, including scholarly articles, reviews, chapters, and books, making clear which journals are refereed and which are not.

• Include creative work, juried exhibitions or compositions, and performances; keep tapes, programs, and published reviews of any creative performances.

• Keep separately, all significant referees' comments on your articles, performances, or exhibits.

• Include all professional meetings, conferences, and symposia in which you have played some role - organizer, chair, invited speaker, discussant, or presenter.

• Include all grants, awards, honors, invited talks, and contracts you have received.

• Include involvement with professional associations, especially offices held, committee and panel service, or other evidence of professional stature or service at regional, national, and international levels.