Northland College
ER-19: Interdisciplinary Research in Tenure and Promotion

This is the relevant excerpt from the faculty handbook. While the handbook is more explicit about interdisciplinary teaching, because research is central to teaching practices at Northland, we are reporting this material for the credit. 9 faculty out of 56 full and part time faculty report to two different departments.

D. Evaluation Standard and Criteria:

Prescribed rules and guidelines for promotion or tenure cannot substitute for good judgment on the part of those responsible for evaluating faculty members. However, certain criteria are considered of primary importance, including the following general and specific ones. Such lists are not intended to be inclusive but, rather, illustrate considerations that may inform good judgment.

1. Teaching: The effectiveness of a faculty member as a teacher constitutes the primary basis of evaluation. The following list is not inclusive nor exhaustive, merely illustrative of some of the elements that go into good teaching and, therefore, subject to evaluation. In each case, the candidate should be evaluated on the basis of evidence, where possible. If no documentable evidence is available, opinions must be attributed to their source (named).
• Ability to inspire students
• Ability to relate professional goals to the intellectual, emotional, and moral development of students
• Course preparation
• Demonstrated concern for the role of one’s discipline in liberal education
• Effectiveness in interdisciplinary, team-teaching, or block courses
• Effectiveness in the classroom (student evaluations and opinion surveys)
• Evaluation of student work
• Guest lecturing
• Informal student contact
• Mastery of subject matter
• Scope of assignments
• Student advising
• Student work as it relates to other aspects of knowledge
• Supervision of student workers, lab technicians, teaching assistants
• Use of texts or supplemental readings; syllabi, tests, course research projects, field experiences, service-learning projects and other course requirements

2. Scholarship, Creativity and Research: The following considerations may be brought to bear on evaluating this secondary element; this is not an exhaustive list but illustrates potential sources of tangible evidence of scholarly pursuit.

a. Professional involvement in the discipline as measured by the quality and extent of peer-reviewed work; the advice of scholars outside the college should be solicited to judge the quality of work.

b. Public professional activity (disciplinary or non-disciplinary), including (but not limited to):
• Articles published in popular media
• Book reviews
• Books written, edited, or a chapter contributed
• Concerts or recitals
• Consulting activities and commissions
• Exhibitions
• Grants, prizes, awards, commissions, or acquired artwork and citations
• Grant proposals
• Leadership in professional organizations
• Media interviews
• Performances (concerts, theatrical productions)
• Poetry, short stories, novels, or non-fiction essays
• Presentations at conferences
• Professional meetings attended
• Publications (research or professional journals
• Public lectures
• Publicly disseminated reports of research or service-learning projects
• Published or performed music
• Technical reports
• Translations
• Unpublished manuscripts
• Visiting performance or presentation to another college or university
• Other evidence or research, scholarship, or creative activity

c. Ability to relate research and scholarly activity to effective classroom teaching.