Some issues in scholarly service
Several common issues
Most faculty members will share frustration about the challenges of balancing responsibilities in the areas of teaching, research and service. Although most rank either research or teaching as top priorities, veteran faculty members often complain that service takes up a disproportionate amount of their time. New faculty members may be able to avoid this dilemma in several ways.
Keep track of relative time
Knowing how you are spending your time can be an illuminating exercise. Think of ways to track your time spent, or even more effectively, plan chunks of time for teaching, reasearch and service by blocking them out on your calendar and sticking to them.
Be strategic
We all make choices about how to spend our time, whether we realize it or not. Think about your professional goals before committing to a new project. Ask if the work moves your teaching, research or service agenda forward. And be creative about the ways you think about the work you do and how it fits into the teaching, research or service categories by which you will be evaluated.
Overlap categories of work
Some activities span more than one category, and by carefully choosing how to count the activity for your file of accomplishments may help balance your portfolio. By choosing wisely you can balance areas that are taking too much or too little time. For example, studying your teaching practice may contribute to the knowledge about teaching in your field. Or incorporating service into your teaching may allow you to count a project in either category. Perhaps by adding a small element to a project it will be possible to shift the way it counts, and at the same time enhance the work you are doing in several categories.
Say No
New faculty members could become overwhelmed with an overload of activities, and be unable to do an excellent job on any of them. A critical skill is to decline opportunities that are not aligned with any of your personal or professional goals. It is important to practice saying no in ways that are diplomatic. Think of how you will say no before the need arises. There are ways to imply that the timing is off, but at a future time you may be interested. It is much easier to say no up front, than to extricate yourself from a commitment after the fact. Be professional, be clear, and be firm, and you will be much more contented about the workload that awaits you.
Role of Faculty Service
Faculty Service Roles and the Scholarship of Engagement
Ward, K. (2003). Jossey Bass, ASHE Higher Education Report, Vol. 29, No. 5
In this book Ward sets out to address unanswered questions with regard to the service role of faculty.
Faculty Service Role
Answers.com
This entry on a reference site outlines the nature of faculty service, distinctions among types of service, the importance of service in the academic reward structure, and debates about the faculty service role. This site is one source for the issues under debate about the role of faculty service.
Faculty Service Roles and the Scholarship of Engagement
Ward, K. (2003). ERIC Digest, ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, Identifier ED480469
This article outlines the many meanings of service, variability in roles, and examines the scholarship of engagement.
Revisiting Faculty Service Roles – Is “Faculty Service” a Victim of the Middle Child Syndrome?
Brazeau, G.A. (2003). American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Vol. 67, Iss. 3, Art. 85
This article asserts that the evaluation of faculty service in the Health Sciences has not received extensive consideration, and has been lost in the efforts to evaluate faculty workload.
Quality of Faculty Service
Faculty Service
Colbrek, C.L. Integration: Evaluating faculty work as a whole. New Directions for Institutional Research, (2002), pp. 43-52
This article addresses the ways excellent service can be distinguished from simply belonging to an organization or sitting on a committee.
Documenting and Evaluating Faculty Service
Examples for Documenting and Evaluating Faculty Service
Office of Academic Affairs (2005). Promotion and Tenure Resource, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
This document provides sample rubrics for faculty service to the university, the community and the profession.
Guidelines for Evaluation of Service in Faculty Performance Review
Academic Senate, University of California Berkeley
These guidelines are designed to help faculty, chairs, deans and other reviewing committee members to fairly and equitably evaluate faculty service.
Faculty Service Activities
Nikou, V.R., In Scheetz, L.J. (2000). Nursing Faculty Secrets, Chapter 7
This chapter outlines what activities are considered service, and why it is important for nursing faculty.
Issues of Diversity
African American Faculty Balancing the Triumvirate: Teaching, Research & Service
Patitu, C.L., Young-Hawkins, L, Larke, P. Webb-Johnson, G. & Sterling, K. (2000). National Association of Professional Affairs Professionals Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 46-66. On ERIC.
This article addresses issues regarding African American faculty at predominantly white research institutions. Topics include: racism, the need to work for and with other African Americans, and the failure of Affirmative Action.
A Closer Look at Faculty Service: What Affects Participation on Committees?
Porter, S. R. (September / October, 2007). Journal of Higher Education, on BNET
This article addresses the notion that faculty of color often report excess service on committees compared to the amount reported by white faculty. This disparity is in part due to an institutional desire for diversity on some committees and to a feeling of obligation on the part of faculty of color to serve the needs of their racial and ethnic groups on campus.
Engagement and Service
University of Michigan
This site outlines findings of an accreditation workgroup asked to examine the meaning and value of service activities. The group discovered a wide range of beliefs about expectations for scholarly service among faculty members, and offers some recommendations for improvement.
Strategies for Balancing Teaching, Research and Service
Service Learning and Faculty in the Higher Education Institution
Scepansky, T. (2004).
One way to accomplish service and teaching simultaneously is through engagement with service learning. This article explores potential factors for institutionalizing service learning initiatives with emphases on culture, power, authority, and resources.
I’m Swamped
NEXT (Narratives Supporting Excellent Teaching), Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching, University of Washington
This site offers stories of practice about achieving balance, with links to specific strategies faculty members have used successfully.
Teaching, Research and Service in the Twenty-First Century English Department: A Delicate Balance
Hardin, J.M. (January, 2004). Mellen Studies in Education Series, Edwin Mellen Press, On Barnes & Noble website
Sixteen essays by scholars, teachers and administrators discuss the question of balance between the elements of teaching, scholarship and service in contemporary college and university English departments. Emphasis is placed on the evaluation process with respect to service, and the pressure placed on junior faculty to provide technological expertise to the department.
Faculty Work & Workload
American Association of University Professors (Updated May, 2007).
This webpage provides an overview of the faculty workload issue, and answers to the question, What Do Faculty Do?
The Balancing Act: The Impact of University Professors’ Juggling Research, Teaching and Service
Korotkov, D., Fraser, I., Houlihan, M., Fenwick, K. McDonald, K. & Fish, T. (February, 2008). Conference Presentation Submission.
In this presentation the authors discuss how the shortage of time, high anxiety, and other stressors lead to trade-offs among teaching, research and service responsibilities.
755. The Balancing Act
Neumann, A., et.al as shared on Tomorrow’s Professor Blog, A partnership between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University
This posting describes a strategy for maximizing professional productivity by better linking teaching, research, and service.
Research, Teaching and Service: Dynamic Balance
Reed, D. (August 10, 2008). Blogpost, Reed’s Ruminations
This blog is a preview of a column in the Computing Research News that offers a lesson on the evolution of the American university, advice to a young scholar.
Balancing Acts: Designing Careers around the Scholarship of Teaching
Huber, M. (July / August, 2001). Change, Vol. 33, No. 4, p. 21-10, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
This publication addresses the question of how to integrate scholarship of teaching and learning into an academic career through the experience of four scholars who have been innovators in their own classrooms, leaders of education initiatives in their institutions and disciplines, and pioneers in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Balancing the Demands of Teaching, Scholarship, and Service
Kelly, R. (August 23, 2008). Faculty Focus.
This post examines the role that institutional culture and discipline standards have on the balance between the three aspects of faculty life. It further suggests that overlapping the areas with a single activity is an effective way to achieve the proper balance.
The Ivory Ceiling of Service Work
Misra, J., Hickes-Lundquist, J., Homes, E. & Agiomavritis, S. (January-February 2011). Academe, Magazine of the American Association of University Professors.
This article argues that the challenge of service work pulling female associate professors away from research, thereby delaying or inhibiting promotion to full professor.
Examples of Service
Faculty Service
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Berkeley
This site outlines an array of services provided by Cal faculty.
Faculty Service and Civic Engagement
College of Education, Marquette University
This site lists service activities of faculty at Marquette University.
Faculty Service & Civic Engagement
College of Education, Marquette University
This site describes expectations for faculty members to engage in service, and outlines the types of service that are appropriate.
SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University
This site describes the criteria for an outstanding service award, including the sorts of external service that is valued.
Outstanding Faculty Service – Susan Avanzino
Academic Senate, California State University Chico
This site offers one example of a California State University faculty member who was recognized for outstanding service.
Institutional Review Board
Office for the Protection of Research Subjects, Office for Research, Northwestern University
This solicitation for nominations provides one example of the type of review board activities for which faculty members may be asked to serve.
Alumni Faculty Service Award
College of Education, University of Houston
This site outlines the selection criteria and selection process used to choose an outstanding faculty member in the area of service.
Why Faculty Promotion and Tenure Matters to Community Partners
Freeman, E., Gust, S. & Aloshen, D.
Retaining and valuing community-engaged faculty is essential to securing a vision of common good and bringing the community into the academy. In this paper the challenges associated with review, promotion and tenure for community-engaged faculty are examined.
