While interdisciplinarity has been promoted in universities for decades, research suggests that untenured faculty struggle to receive recognition for their interdisciplinary research. Informed by the microfoundations of institutional theory and discursive legitimation, we examine how members of academic departments participate in the legitimation…

This study examines how community-engaged scholarship (CES) was defined and described in promotion and tenure policies at a university. Examining 67 policies across university, school, and department levels, findings show meaningful variability with regards to whether and how CES was defined or described. Analysis categorizes descriptions of CES…

Choosing how to recognize community-engaged scholarship in promotion and tenure policies so that it is assessed accurately and fairly remains a relatively new and ongoing challenge for institutions of higher education. This case study examines how one US research university integrated text to recognize community-engaged scholarship across all…

This study of rewards and recognition in the mathematical sciences in higher education utilized data gathered from site visits to 26 institutions, 3 open forums, and a survey of a sample of faculty and department chairs in mathematical sciences departments. Results found: (1) a substantial gap between what faculty think the reward structure should…

Given the intensified importance of the promotion and tenure process, the question arises as to whether the faculty's peer reviewing role formally extends beyond the departmental level antecedent to administrative review. The typical structure and function for that role is discussed. (MLW)

Reports on a study of the theory of cumulative advantage and disadvantage as it applies to the productivity and prestige of academic departments within sociology. Finds that past accomplishments do not bear importantly on current perceptions of departmental prestige. (CFR)

A study of research productivity among 890 Australian faculty members in 18 universities during 1985-89 found the overall average to be low but with a wide range of variation. Additional variables examined include level of research activity, subject area, institution type, gender, age, early research interest, and satisfaction with the promotion…

Reviews how ethnicity, race, and gender affect women's professional participation in academia, particularly in psychology departments. Examines minority women's inclusion at undergraduate, graduate, job entry, and senior level positions within academic psychology; and reviews economic and social-psychological processes that unjustly serve as…

A national study examined sex differences in rates of academic promotion and appointment to administrative posts in dental schools since 1985 by looking at promotion rates of faculty who were assistant professors in 1985 and faculty who were associate professors in 1985, and promotions to dean, program director, and department head. (MSE)