Abstract

The majority of faculty at U.S. institutions are housed in departments that are tied to a single academic discipline. Many members of the Central Eurasian Studies Society, however, identify as interdisciplinary area studies scholars, as much as they identify with an academic discipline. Promotion candidates with interdisciplinary scholarly identities experience unique challenges when they come up for promotion and tenure. Senior scholars who are in the best position to evaluate the impact of a candidate’s scholarship (and are therefore ideal persons to serve as external reviewers) may be trained in a different academic discipline. Further, a candidate’s record of achievement (e.g., grant record, forms of publication, publication venues, etc.) may not look the same as their peers in a discipline-based department. In other words, sources of funding, journals and book publishers may be less familiar to departmental colleagues who will be evaluating their scholarship.

This workshop is primarily aimed for individuals who are currently in a faculty position at a U.S. institution who will be going through the promotion process within the next few years. The information provided in this workshop may also be of value, however, to scholars who aspire to be in such positions in the near future. All participants are expected to complete a short survey prior to the workshop. Participants who are preparing to go through the promotion process in the near future are encouraged to submit a draft promotion statement to the convenor prior to the workshop.

During this 90-minute interactive workshop, the convenor will: (a) provide an overview of what to expect during the promotion and tenure process, and (b) provide specific strategies to mitigate against these special challenges that interdisciplinary scholars may encounter during the promotion process.

The convenor of this workshop is an interdisciplinary scholar whose familiarity with the promotion and tenure process spans multiple perspectives. She has personal experience with these challenges while undergoing promotion (twice) at her own university. She has had three different administrative roles that involve oversight over the promotion and tenure process. She has played a leading role in developing departmental and college promotion evaluation guidelines. She developed and facilitated training workshops for promotion and tenure committee members at her university. And, as associate dean, she has participated in the review of more than 150 promotion cases. In addition, she has conducted research on the promotion and tenure process, as a collaborator on an NSF-funded project.