What Counts for Academic Promotion?

Academic promotion is based on an applicant’s achievements in the areas of scholarship/research, education, and service, but schools differ significantly in the definitions and scope of each of these domains. Since the 1990s, many schools have used expanded definitions of scholarship based on the Boyer model. In addition to the classical scholarship of research (“discovery”), this model recognizes scholarly work in education and in the integration and application of knowledge. The Glassick criteria have helped define scholarship in these nontraditional areas, but significant challenges persist in its documentation and assessment. Portfolios are increasingly used to document achievements, especially in education. The criteria for promotion are specific to each academic track, and the expectations in each domain should correlate with the focus of the track. Tenure track criteria usually cover all three domains (scholarship/research, education, and service), whereas other tracks generally have requirements for achievements in one or more principal area(s) with limited or no activity in others.