Faculty members at Rhodes are actively engaged with their academic fields as scholars and artists. They are confident exponents and interpreters in the practice of their disciplines. They have an abiding interest in and passion for their discipline.
Faculty scholarship is the development and use of skills and competencies, appropriate to one’s discipline, to address issues within and challenges of the discipline and to enrich the discipline by informed, critical study or performance. The expectation is that these skills and competencies will advance the discipline.
Faculty scholarship includes both research and creative activities. Faculty research refers to original scholarly activity that is intended principally for academic and professional peers and is subject to a peer review process. This research should culminate, where appropriate, in peer-reviewed conference presentations, articles, essays, monographs, or books. Such research may also generate external grants. Creative activity refers to work that reflects an active engagement with the discipline typically intended for an audience not limited to academic peers. Typical forms of creative activity are works of art, productions, compositions, and performances.
Some faculty investigate interdisciplinary research questions or explore issues in fields outside their discipline. Such work is expected to undergo the same rigorous peer review processes as work within a traditional discipline.
Invited expert testimony, consultant assignments, book reviews, participation in professional meetings in roles such as panel chair or discussant, non-peer-reviewed publications, review work for journals or book publishers, and outside reviews of the work of Faculty colleagues comprise professional citizenship activities. These activities are contributions to one’s discipline and valued as part of a faculty member’s professional life at, and on behalf of, the College, but do not substitute for faculty research/creative activity.
Academic Departments work with the Office of Academic Affairs to develop expectations for the assessment of scholarship, making clear how the forms of research/creative activity, appropriate to that discipline, are weighted in the evaluation process. The Office of Academic Affairs, in consultation with department chairs, regularly reviews these departmental expectations in order to maintain a level of parity across departments.