Service Responsibilities and Procedures

Service

Performance by Rank: The movement from assistant professor to associate professor to professor should reflect an ever-increasing sphere of influence for the faculty member. For most disciplines, the early stages of a faculty career involve service of a more local impact. As the reputation of the individual develops, involvement in service activities of greater impact should be in evidence, and evolution of the faculty member from participant to leader should be apparent. Promotion or tenure requires a high level of performance in service, appropriate to the rank, discipline, and degree level of the program.

Characteristics of Early Career Expectations:

• Meaningful participation in department, college or school, and university service activities, to an extent that demonstrates concern about the unit and university.
• Engagement in professional and public service activities that make use of the specific expertise of the faculty member.

Characteristics of Expectations Approaching Professor Rank:

• High impact roles in department, college or school, and university service.
• Effective engagement related to the professional expertise of the faculty member that has an impact beyond the university at the state, regional, or national level.
• Support of service-related activities at the university and beyond.

Relevant Service Activities

The following list contains examples of appropriate activities. This list is not exhaustive, and the outcome or impact of participation is what is examined, according to the standards above.

• Reviewing grant applications for extramural funding agencies
• Review of manuscripts or books for publishers
• Service as editor or significant review service for scholarly journals or the equivalent
• Contributions as a member of local, state, regional, national, and international professional organizations or associations
• Contributions to professional meetings distinct from research/creative scholarship presentations, such as serving on the organizing committee, arranging a symposium, reviewing presentation submissions, etc.
• Leadership roles in professional organizations
• Administrative work undertaken as a faculty member
• Service work on departmental, college, and university committees, including the faculty senate and its committees
• Service to any special projects, programs, initiatives or support units of the university
• Advisor or faculty sponsor to student groups
• Recruitment of students to the department and university
• Organization of workshops for students, teachers, professionals, or other constituents
• Discipline-related service to the community
• Service as the designated representative of the university or unit
• Service as a consultant to an industry or other organization
• Professional practice within assigned duties that doesn’t fall under the heading of consulting

Note that volunteer work or service to the community not related to one’s academic expertise is valued but not directly pertinent to expectations for annual appraisals or promotion.