Additional (external) resources

Engaged Scholarship and Review, Promotion, and Tenure (RPT)
Compiled by Campus Compact

Faculty engaged scholarship: Setting standards and building conceptual clarity
By Lynn Blanchard and Andrew Furco (The Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship)

Scholarship In Public: Knowledge Creation and Tenure Policy in the Engaged University; A Resource on Promotion and Tenure in the Arts, Humanities, and Design
By Julie Ellison and Timothy K. Eatman (Imagining America)

Beyond the Academy: Guidebook for the Engaged University. Including a chapter (4) on tenure and promotion. 

Universities Take Promising Steps to Reward Research that Benefits Society. Pew Foundation, Transforming Evidence Funders Network. 

HIBAR Alliance Webinar: Broadening Faculty Rewards Systems to Support Societally-Impactful Research

HIBAR Alliance Webinar: Supporting Inclusive Recognition of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Guidelines for Evaluating Publicly Engaged Scholarship - MLA

Public scholarship often integrates the generation of knowledge, education, and service; as such candidates are encouraged to describe and document their engagement activities throughout their candidate statement in any of these relevant sections. Public engagement may also intersect with faculty efforts to improve access and equity in university settings, including examining the value and creation of knowledge.

In a 2021 response to the Provost’s Work Group Report on Public Scholarship, the Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP) advised that “candidates should clearly list engagement and impact in the appropriate dossier sections (i.e., research teaching, service, professional competence, and activity) to help reviewers evaluate public scholarship contributions.”

In the UC Davis Academic Affairs Annual Call (July 2021): Documenting Research and Service in a Dossier, Academic Affairs advises: "Faculty are always encouraged to explain the context and impact of their research and service in their Candidate’s Statement so that reviewers can recognize the uniqueness of their academic endeavors. While all areas of research and scholarship are valued, candidates often appreciate the opportunity to highlight unusual and distinguishing features of their work, such as influencing public policy, international research and engagement, public scholarship, work with underrepresented groups and disadvantaged communities, etc. Highlighting such efforts in the Candidate’s Statement can provide important insights that are otherwise not always evident in an advancement dossier."

As a reflection of advancing conversations about the incorporation of public engagement in faculty recognition at UC Davis, in May 2023 Academic Affairs announced a new optional statement for Contributions to Public and Global Impact that will become part of the Senate and Federation merit & promotion process:

Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact (no page limit)

Faculty scholarship includes engaging locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, but the full breadth and impact of that work is not always appreciated or easily understood by those who evaluate their merit and promotion dossiers. It is currently difficult to understand, visualize, and evaluate the breadth of faculty activities that fall under these cross-cutting and high-priority areas for the university. These activities span the pillars of faculty research, teaching, and service. As such, this optional statement will provide the opportunity for faculty to specifically address areas of public and global impact in their dossier. Public and global impact may be evidenced by, for example: peer-reviewed publications, knowledge being brought into the policy and decision-making process, improving professional practice, pedagogical innovations, public exhibitions/installations, grants, contracts or competitive awards, and ways in which faculty public and global impact intersects with efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion.