Faculty Tenure and Promotion Workshop Series

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

It is in our national interest to support the advancement of scientific progress, national health, and general prosperity in an economy increasingly driven by scientific advancement and technological change. Colleges and universities are engaged in an ongoing process of adapting to societal changes and emerging scholarship that inform the ways we provide effective STEM learning environments. Institutional policies relating to faculty promotion and tenure can serve as incentives for faculty members to participate in activities such as outreach and public engagement, use evidence-based teaching and mentoring practices, develop and offer creative interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary coursework, create novel ways to broaden participation in science among underrepresented groups, and develop specific strategies for reflecting the principles of convergence in courses and programs. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will organize and host a national convocation of key scholars and stakeholders. The gathering is designed to incorporate speakers and participants that represent a wide range of STEM instructional faculty, including contingent faculty, at a range of higher education institutional types. The gathering will be planned by an ad hoc committee of the National Academies with experience and expertise in science and engineering, promotion and tenure policies and practices, and higher education research and teaching. The convocation will bring together 50-75 stakeholders to discuss the issues and research and to determine strategies for creating campus-based conversations aimed at examining new promotion and tenure policies and practices. The gathering is designed to serve as a springboard for a major National Academies consensus study of this topic starting in 2019. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.