One of the five criteria used in personnel decisions for faculty members includes scholarly/creative ability. SUNY Oswego expects all faculty members to be consistently engaged in scholarly and/or creative activities. The standards for such scholarly/creative activities vary from department to department.
At public comprehensive universities such as SUNY Oswego, the teacher-scholar model is particularly applicable. Our scholarship informs our teaching, and our teaching informs our scholarship.
It is also the case at many teaching focused institutions “there is greater acceptance of varied forms of scholarly [and creative] activity” (Ansburg, Bashamand Gurung, 2022). Since most of us come to SUNY Oswego from research institutions, it is important to discuss and recognize a range of research and creative activities, and to consider these varied activities as part of our faculty review process. As noted on the Provost website, SUNY Oswego supports the Boyer Model of scholarship that includes the Scholarships of Discovery, Application, Teaching, and Integration (Boyer, 1990).
As faculty, we are well aware of our traditional types of scholarship and creative activities such as journal articles, university press books, juried exhibits, invited performances, conference presentations, etc. As noted above there are other forms of research/creative activities that departments may want to consider as part of the evaluation toward review, promotion, and tenure at SUNY Oswego. While not exhaustive, some of these are noted below. Departments should have open discussions regarding these forms of research/creative activities and their value to the faculty’s portfolio with regard to promotion, tenure, and personnel review, and how these activities support and promote the department and SUNY Oswego.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
These are activities centered on the design and study of how to improve teaching and learning. As an institution that places a high value on teaching and learning, it follows that across academic departments, SUNY Oswego supports such efforts particularly when shared in a public forum such as a peer-reviewed journal and conference for others to benefit.
Collaborative Research/Creative Activity
We value research done in a collaborative way. Faculty should be clear about their role in collaborative research/creative activity and their role in the project (publication, grant, performance, exhibition, etc.).
Interdisciplinary Research/Creative Activity
Some of the most interesting, unique, and innovative areas of research require an interdisciplinary (or multidisciplinary) perspective in order to conduct the research. Given SUNY Oswego’s commitment to interdisciplinary learning, we encourage faculty to engage in such research efforts. Like collaborative research above, faculty should be able to articulate their role and contribution to interdisciplinary research projects.
Student-Faculty Research/Creative Activity
As an institution that values engaged learning and high impact experiences, student-faculty research is an important aspect of our work with students at SUNY Oswego. These efforts can be an important part of a research portfolio, particularly when the research is presented/published in a public forum.
Professional or Community Research/Creative Activity
Boyer explains that the Scholarship of Application includes activities where one uses their expertise and knowledge to the service of the academy and society. As a public comprehensive university, SUNY Oswego has an important role to the larger community and we support faculty efforts to engage in research that serves this role. Examples of such activities include doing program assessments for community organizations, statewide assessment of learning goals, aiding transformation in business and not for profit organizations, technical reports, community historic preservation, and others.
These are not exhaustive, but provides some examples of varied research/creative activities.