Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Appointment, Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Criteria: Does It Matter?

Abstract

University faculty are called upon to address complex, contemporary problems using interdisciplinary approaches. But do appointment, reappointment, promotion, and tenure (ARPT) criteria reflect and reward this fundamental change in the nature of scholarly inquiry? We conducted a content analysis of ARPT criteria at one university to determine how interdisciplinary work is valued across disciplines and over time. We found noteworthy differences between colleges and disciplines: generally, creative disciplines placed higher value on individual contributions, while the sciences supported interdisciplinary work. The emphasis on interdisciplinary work over time increased in only a few disciplines, as criteria became more current.

Appendix: Guidelines for Interdisciplinary Work, Excerpted from CAS/Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 2012 ARPT Criteria

Research and Publications: The following equivalents of a monograph are based on a recognition of the fact that WGSS is an interdisciplinary field and that Department core faculty come from many disciplinary specialties which count scholarship differently. Two areas in which WGSS scholarship particularly departs from some conventional single disciplinary standards are (1) the value it places on publishing in a wide variety of peer-reviewed scholarly journals and edited volumes rather than constructing a hierarchy of narrowly defined publication sources; and (2) the value it places on collective knowledge production. It does not single out any one peer-reviewed publication source as pre-eminent, and it sees co-authorship and (co) editorship as worthy of more weight than they are sometimes given in conventional humanities and some social science disciplines. Given that WGSS core faculty now come from across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, the following equivalencies of a monograph reflect this. The candidate’s self-evaluation statement must address how her/his scholarship meets these criteria in ways consistent with WGSS and, where appropriate, her/his other discipline’s practices.

As a guide, generally the equivalents of a monograph are as follows:

• Publication or acceptance for publication of one peer-reviewed article per year in some combination of scholarly journals and edited volumes

• Publication or acceptance for publication of a peer-reviewed co-authored book and two peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals and/or edited volumes

• Publication or acceptance for publication of a peer-reviewed edited or co-edited volume and three peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals and/or edited volumes

Depending upon the candidate’s description and rationale in her/his research statement of how her/his scholarship is in line with WGSS and, where appropriate, her/his other discipline’s practices, co-authored peer review articles will be weighted as either equivalent to or at least half the worth of single-authored peer-reviewed articles, and a major research grant in which the candidate is a principal investigator from national or international agencies will count up to one-half of a monograph.

Teaching: [A percentage] of the evaluation will rest on contributions to WGSS curriculum development and pedagogy. This can include development of new courses and courses that serve multiple units and requirements (e.g., general education, honors, joint degree programs, other majors and graduate programs, etc.); affiliation with other disciplinary and interdisciplinary programs to enhance course enrollments and build curricular ties; development of WGSS programs and activities with clear pedagogical impact such as development of areas of concentration within the undergraduate and graduate curricula; developing new major, minor, certificate, joint degree, or study abroad programs or internship opportunities for or which involve WGSS; contributions to the literature on feminist pedagogy via publications, manuals, or workshops; contributions to WGSS and/or College or University curricular development through curriculum committee or pedagogically related committee work; and nominations for teaching awards given by the Department, another unit, the College, the University, and/or professional associations in the candidate’s field(s) of concentration.

Service: A candidate for reappointment, promotion, and/or tenure at all levels is expected to have a strong service record. In this document, service is defined as participation in activities that contribute to the welfare and development of the Department, the college, the university, Friends of Women’s Studies, the local community, national and international organizations, WGSS as a profession, and WGSS and gender inquiry within interdisciplinary and disciplinary professional associations.