Rethinking the Role of Service in Promotion & Tenure: Defining It, Measuring It, and Addressing Inequities
A PODCAST SERIES AND LIVE Q&A SESSION
What is service as it relates to promotion and tenure? Join us as we explore definitions, guidelines, methods of measurement, and equity.
Overview
Service is often a significant part of faculty members’ contributions to the institution and overall workload. Yet, it remains hard to define both what counts as service and how to measure it as part of personnel reviews (e.g., promotion and tenure, post-tenure reviews, merit reviews, term faculty reviews, etc.), and promotion and tenure progress, and reviews. Research has shown that certain faculty, including women and BIPOC faculty, face an additional service burden that can delay their career progression and negatively impact their earning potential.
Despite what seem like more challenges than solutions, many institutions are beginning to think about service differently and are actively seeking to implement changes. The central questions—how to reward service, and how to ensure that the faculty performing service are valued and rewarded—are driving new thinking and approaches to service in promotion and tenure.
This podcast series will bring together examples of innovative and evolving thinking and practices around service as it relates to promotion and tenure, both at the unit and central levels, with the aim of helping to transform existing structures and policies. We’ll center the discussion on practical ways to address:
- Defining service and what counts as service.
- Effectively measuring service as part of major personnel reviews.
- Addressing both inequities and inequities in service loads and making service more transparent.
- Impacts of service on career progression and advancement, especially for faculty from historically marginalized groups.
Who Will Find This Beneficial?
This series is designed for central and unit-level faculty affairs leaders, provosts, vice presidents for academic affairs, deans, senate leaders, department heads, and anyone else who may be interested or involved in discussions about reworking faculty promotion and tenure processes, policies, and procedures.
How it works
This podcast series has been designed to combine some of the best emergent thinking on service in promotion and tenure, to provide you with resources on how to start rethinking service at your institution, and to provide space for dialogue with others doing similar work. The series consists of three asynchronous podcasts which will be paired with a final live Q&A session that will allow you to explore topics with the subject-matter experts and your peers. We do recommend listening to all three podcasts before participating in the live Q&A, as the content will build as you go and will be most impactful when taken in sequence, however this is not a requirement. All podcasts will be live on the website by September 5, 2022, and the live Q&A session will take place on September 28, 2022.
PODCAST #1
Defining Service
Overview
In this podcast, Gabe Paquette, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Oregon, will discuss how his institution embarked on an initiative to create a shared vocabulary for what constitutes service, how they created partnerships with key functional areas within the institution to make progress on the service initiative, and how they started to align service with broader institutional priorities. Gabe will unpack the process he followed and also share initial challenges, outcomes, successes, and the road ahead.
Speakers
Gabe Paquette
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Oregon
Read Full Bio
PODCAST #2
Measuring Service
Overview
In this podcast, Ericka Zimmerman, School Director of the School of Health Sciences in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Western Carolina University, offers a unit-level example of an innovative yet simple tool she developed for her college to use in mapping service time and assessing the value and impact of service—rather than just the number of requirements on record. We’ll discuss the importance of transparency, faculty buy-in, and the shifting expectations and definitions of service.
Speaker
Ericka Zimmerman
Director of the School of Health Sciences and Professor, Western Carolina University
Read Full Bio
PODCAST #3
Addressing Inequities
Overview
In this podcast, Donna Garcia, Director of the Diversity, Equity in Promotion, Hiring, and Tenure (DEPTH) Center at California State University, San Bernardino, will lead the conversation on how to infuse equity into the process of rethinking service in promotion and tenure. We will discuss the importance of understanding the inequities that exist and the impact they have on faculty and the institution, the importance of ensuring that the evidence for what constitutes service and how to measure it stays consistent, how to use clear guidelines, and how to address inconsistencies in judgment of reviewers of service.
Speaker
Donna Garcia, Ph.D.
Director of the Diversity, Equity in Promotion, Hiring, and Tenure (DEPTH) Center and Professor of Psychology, California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB)
Read Full Bio
LIVE Q&A SESSION
Follow-up Q&A Discussion Panel
September 28, 2022
Overview
In this session, we’ll bring together all of the subject-matter experts in this podcast series to address specific questions and facilitate a discussion with peers in higher ed who are engaging in similar initiatives.
Speakers
Gabe Paquette
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Oregon
Read Full Bio
Ericka Zimmerman
Director of the School of Health Sciences and Professor, Western Carolina University
Read Full Bio
Donna Garcia, Ph.D.
Director of the Diversity, Equity in Promotion, Hiring, and Tenure (DEPTH) Center and Professor of Psychology, California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB)
Read Full Bio