From the June 26, 2008 Chronicle of Higher Education ("Colleges Should Change Policies to Encourage Scholarship Devoted to the Public Good, Report Says," by Audrey Williams June):
A national consortium of more than 80 colleges and universities is urging higher education to revamp its tenure and promotion policies so that what it calls public scholarship is recognized and rewarded.
In a new report, the group, Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, details the obstacles that exist for faculty members in the arts, humanities, and design whose scholarly or creative work is done with, for, or about the public, and contributes to the public good. The report [pdf], "Scholarship in Public: Knowledge Creation and Tenure Policy in the Engaged University," also offers strategies that colleges can use to create attractive environments for such work to be done and reviewed.
"The bottom line is excellent scholarship is just that—excellent scholarship," said Timothy K. Eatman, assistant professor of higher education at Syracuse University and a co-author of the report, which was produced by the consortium's tenure team. "What we want to do is make sure there are ways for public scholarship to be evaluated so we can discern what is excellent and what isn't."
[...]
Imagining America will continue the dialogue on the value of public scholarship at its national conference at the University of Southern California in October and at regional conferences held this year and next. However, the report's authors say that people can use the report to begin the discussion about reshaping tenure and promotion policies now.
The University of Minnesota was represented on the group by Gail Dubrow, Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost.
President Bruininks is also mentioned in the report:
Robert Bruininks, former provost and current president of the University of Minnesota, made public engagement his issue, starting a reexamination of the university’s public mission and the implications of this mission for scholarship and creative practice. This civic thrust, sustained by the Council on Public Engagement and the Vice President for Engagement, is now in its seventh year.
Posted by stemp003 at July 2, 2008 4:10 PM