The American Sociological Association (ASA) aims to reduce the disconnect between traditional academic reward structures and socially transformative research. With this grant, they will engage institutions that require evaluation of teaching, research, and service as the three components of tenure review and are geographically proximate to each other and Washington, D.C. The team posits that institutional reward structures will only be revised if the effort to do so is faculty-driven; in partnership with departmental, college, and university administrators; and at the institutional level. ASA and Washington will convene and support these actors within and across the three institutions. This work will contribute to ASA’s transformative goal, which may ultimately aid in the retention of early-career scholars, many of whom became interested in sociology because of its potential to solve social problems they may have experienced or observed in their own communities. This award also aligns with the goals of the Foundation’s Institutional Challenge Grant Program and with the Transforming Evidence Funders Network’s workgroup to expand promotion and tenure criteria in ways that demonstrate the value of engaged research.
The American Sociological Association will pilot a structured process for engaging sociology departments and relevant institutional administrators at three institutions in a review of their promotion and tenure criteria.
