Merit and Promotion Guidance for Globally Engaged Scholars

In August 2023, the Academic Affairs “Annual Call” introduced an optional Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact that faculty can now include in their merit and promotion dossiers. The inclusion of this new statement stems from a conviction that the traditional division of the dossier into research, teaching, and service may not allow faculty the opportunity to showcase adequately the holistic impact of their publicly and/or globally engaged work. The statement encourages candidates to “tell the story” of their public and/or global engagement in ways that reveal its full breadth and impact to the colleagues who will evaluate their accomplishments, especially when that impact may not be evident in MIV and the Candidate’s Statement alone.

Academic Affairs’ guidance for the statement is as follows:

Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact (no page limit)

Faculty scholarship includes engaging locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, but the full breadth and impact of that work is not always appreciated or easily understood by those who evaluate their merit and promotion dossiers. It is important to understand, visualize, and evaluate the scope of faculty activities that fall under these cross-cutting and high-priority areas for the university. These activities span the pillars of faculty research, teaching, and service. As such, this optional statement provides faculty with the opportunity to specifically address areas of public and global impact in their dossier. Public and global impact may be evidenced by, for example: peer-reviewed publications, high-impact reports, community-based programs, knowledge being brought into the policy and decision-making process, improving professional practice, pedagogical innovations, public exhibitions/installations, grants, contracts or competitive awards, and ways in which faculty public and global impact intersects with efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Why Document Your Globally Engaged Work?

Universities across the United States have made internationalization and global engagment a strategic priority, acknowledging their responsibility to serve communities at both the local and global levels. The University of California shares this philosophy. As evidence of UC’s stated commitment to internationalization, the 2017 UC Presidential Policy on International Activities affirms unequivocally that “as a public research university, UC’s mission includes the creation, dissemination, preservation, and application of knowledge for the betterment of global society.” The policy also affirms that one of UC’s main goals is to “encourage and support international collaboration, education, exploration, service, and research."

Furthermore, in 2023, UC Davis launched its Campus Global Strategic Plan, which reaffirms a commitment to global engagement as a priority for the campus. 

When faculty write about the aggregate impact of their global work, they showcase their “international recognition”—a characteristic that APM 220-18 (4) names specifically as a requirement for advancement to the rank of Professor "Above Scale." This recognition is built over the course of a faculty member’s full career. In addition, through their international work, faculty contribute to UC’s reputation as a university of undeniable global stature.

Guidance on Documenting the Impact of Your Globally Engaged Work

Faculty seeking evaluation of their globally engaged work can highlight various activities including, but not limited to:

• Research and Scholarship: presentations at international conferences, lectures abroad, publications in international venues, collaborative projects with international partners, international grants and patents, performances and exhibitions in other countries, translational research that has positive impact on global communities
• Teaching: mentoring and advising international students, teaching courses abroad, developing and teaching courses on campus with a global focus, overseeing global internships
• Service: leadership in international professional organizations; influencing international policymaking; organizing international conferences; serving on the editorial boards of international journals; providing external peer review for colleagues and students abroad; and developing formal, cooperative agreements with foreign institutions

We have provided a guidance document co-developed with Public Scholarship and Engagement and approved by Academic Affairs to support faculty in writing their Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact.

View Public and Global Impact Statement - Handout

 Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact Presentation

• View Presentation on Global Affairs YouTube Channel

Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact Presentation Transcript

• SLIDE 1 - Introduction (Michael Lazzara and Tessa Hill)
• Hello, and thank you so much for joining us. My name is Michael Lazzara, and I am a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese as well as associate vice provost of academic programs and partnerships in Global Affairs. 
  And I am Tessa Hill of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. I am also associate vice provost of academic programs in the UC Davis office of Public Scholarship and Engagement.of Spanish and Portuguese as well as associate vice provost of academic programs and partnerships in Global Affairs.
  
  We are here to share with you some information about the brand new “Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact” that, as of this year, is optional for faculty to include in their merit and promotion actions. 
  Our two offices worked together (with Academic Affairs and others across campus) to champion the initiative to create this new statement in which faculty have the opportunity to showcase the full impact of their public and global work.
• SLIDE 2- Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact (Tessa Hill)
• In the 2023 “Annual Call,” which provides updates to the merit and promotion guidelines, Academic Affairs announced the creation of a new, optional “Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact.”
  The goal of this statement is to allow faculty a dedicated place within their dossiers to highlight and showcase the IMPACT that their contributions to global engagement and/or public scholarship are making.
  
  This statement was added to our merit and promotion process for several reasons: first, to address uneven faculty recognition that was occurring due to these activities not being fully transparent or recognized in our current system. Additionally, the national landscape is changing around recognizing Public and Global Impact - more funding agencies are requiring that faculty document this work, and there have been changes throughout the UC system that similarly support this work. Among the UC’s, UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley, and UC Santa Cruz all have mechanisms for documenting this type of work in their merit and promotion processes. Submitting this statement will help your colleagues holistically evaluate the impact of the work you are doing toward public and global engagement, and appreciate with greater depth how this work fits within your research, teaching, or service portfolio.
  
  As the descriptive language of the call on the screen states, when information about public or global engagement is spread across a faculty member’s dossier, it may be difficult for those evaluating the dossier to appreciate the full breadth, integration, and impact of that work. The description in the Annual Call also notes several forms through which the impact of public and global work can be measured. We’ll talk more about those in a moment.
  
  But before we do . . . let’s talk about why you, as a faculty member, would want to document your public scholarship and global engagement systematically using this new statement . . .
• SLIDE 3 - Why Document Global Engagement and Public Scholarship Systematically Using This New Statement? (Michael Lazzara)
• In working with faculty on describing their global engagement and public scholarship activities, we have perceived that many are under the impression that these should be described and evaluated only as “service” activities.
  
  When we hear this, we encourage faculty to look at their public scholarship and global engagement holistically. We encourage them to “tell the story” of their public and global engagement, of the forms it is taking, and most importantly of the impact it’s having locally and around the world.
  
  For many faculty, public and global activities are cross-cutting, and to be adequately evaluated, they must not be seen as isolated and disconnected items in MIV.
  
  Only an integrative approach (that takes into account research, teaching, service, and contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion) will allow reviewers at all levels to understand the full impact and breadth of a faculty member’s public and/or global work.
  
  Such an integrative approach will also ensure that the impact of a faculty member’s work is legible to everyone reviewing the dossier.
  
  Moreover, when we recognize and reward engaged public and global scholarship, we send a clear and positive message that UC Davis values such work, which in turn helps the university to attract and retain extraordinary faculty.
• SLIDE 4 - Cross-cutting Examples of Global Engagement and Public Scholarship (Tessa Hill)
• This slide gives a sense of the MANY ways that faculty are doing public and global scholarship across all three categories of the dossier. 
  
  In the area of research, a faculty member may publish with colleagues abroad or with community partners; they may collaborate on grants or projects with international teams or community partners; and they may win prestigious awards for their global or public scholarship. 
  
  In the area of teaching, they may design innovative courses that include robust global learning or community-engaged elements; they may direct internships for students that include international, national, or local partners; and they may mentor students to be actively-engaged global or public scholars or researchers. 
  
  In the area of service, our faculty are influencing policy at the local, national, and international levels; they are organizing conferences that have an international or community-engaged scope; and they are serving as faculty champions for agreements that deepen our institutional partnerships.
• SLIDE 5 - Guidance for the Statement I (Michael Lazzara)
• To further guide you in preparing your statement, we have prepared a guidance handout to accompany this presentation that can be found on the Academic Affairs website. We have summarized some important aspects of the handout on this slide and the two that follow. The handout, however, is much more complete and contains further ideas and questions to guide your writing. 
  
  Our goal in providing these and other resources is to support faculty in writing about their work, and to support department chairs and review committees in evaluating it. 
  
  In the handout, you’ll find examples such as those you see here. “Faculty seeking evaluation of their public and global engagement activities should provide a record geared toward demonstrating impact that documents their activities, for example:
  
  *Peer-reviewed scholarly publications*Integration with educational efforts such as enhancing curriculum or creating new academic programs
  *Examples of knowledge being brought into the policy and decision-making process
  *Ways in which public and global scholarship intersect with efforts to improve equity, inclusion, and access;
  *Exhibitions, installations, or events that highlight engagement of scholarly work with communities outside of the university, local or global
  *Explanation of the quantity, strength, and impact of the work on non-university constituents
  *Grants and contracts or competitive awards 
  
  These are just a few examples of how you can demonstrate impact.
• SLIDE 6 - Guidance for the Statement II (Tessa Hill)
• As part of your statement, we also recommend directly addressing the ways in which reviewers can assess the impact of your work. For example:-What is the impact of the new knowledge creation? What important questions or challenges have been addressed? How, effectively has this research knowledge been translated for external, public, or global use?-How did the knowledge create educational impact for diverse audiences?-What is the impact of the research, teaching, or service on/within the communities (local or global) in which it is conducted?
• SLIDE 7 - Guidance for the Statement III (Michael Lazzara)
• As we mentioned earlier, the statement provides an opportunity to show the impact of public and/or global work across all categories of the dossier. However, depending on the nature of your work, you may also choose to highlight one area(research, teaching, or service) in which your work makes the biggest contribution.
  
  In the handout, you will find a table containing guiding questions that can help you decide which aspects of your work you would like to emphasize and why.
• SLIDE 8- Resources for Merit and Promotion (Tessa Hill)
• The guidance handout will remain on the Academic Affairs website for your reference at any point while preparing your merit or promotion package. 
  
  Additionally, our offices can provide additional support, should you need it please reach out. Thank you!

• Further information and guidance for writing this statement has been provided here, as well as by Academic Affairs and Public Scholarship and Engagement.