Community engagement is a defining attribute of the campus, and the
current Strategic Plan identifies a number of strategic actions to “Deepen
our Commitment to Community Engagement.” In May 2015, A Faculty
Learning Community (FLC) on Public Scholarship was established in
May, 2015 to address the campus strategic goals to “recognize and reward
contributions to community engagement” and “define community
engagement work…in Faculty Annual Reports and promotion and tenure
guidelines.” At IUPUI, scholarly work occurs in research and creative
activity, teaching, and/or service. In terms of promotion and tenure, faculty
members must declare an area of excellence in one of these three domains.
The FLC on Public Scholarship is a 3-year initiative co-sponsored by
Academic Affairs and the Center for Service and Learning (CSL). Seven
faculty members from across campus were selected to be part of the
2015-2016 FLC, and two co-chairs worked closely with CSL staff to plan
and facilitate the ongoing work. The FLC is charged with defining public
scholarship, identifying criteria to evaluate this type of scholarship, assist
faculty in documenting their community-engaged work, and working with
department Chairs and Deans in adapting criteria into promotion and
tenure materials. The intended audiences for this work includes faculty,
community-engaged scholars, public scholars, promotion and tenure
committees, external reviewers, and department Chairs and Deans. The
following provides background to the campus context and a brief summary
of work to date, including definition and proposed criteria to evaluate public
scholarship.IUPUI Center for Service and Learning; IUPUI Office of Academic Affair
