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Research Articles

Vol. 18 No. 1

Scholarship Perceptions of Academic Department Heads: Implications for Promoting Faculty Community Engagement Scholarship

  • Patricia Sobrero
  • K.S.U. Jayaratne
Submitted
March 31, 2014
Published
2014-03-30

Abstract

After North Carolina State University developed recommendations for departments and faculty to integrate learning,
discovery, and engagement through the scholarship of engagement, the issue was raised: "What do department heads think, and how do they support engagement especially during promotion, tenure, and reappointment of engaged faculty?" This study found that 75% of departments say they value community- engagement scholarship when making promotion and tenure decisions, 73% of the departments include standards to reward community-engagement scholarship, and 20% of the departments have no expectations for faculty to be community-engagement scholars. When asked if community engaged participatory research was valued, it ranked between minimally valued and somewhat valued. Department heads reported that they are not likely to promote faculty who publish in peer reviewed community engagement journals. These journals were reported as only somewhat valued.