Research Active

(Adopted by COE Faculty Advisory Council 04/01/2015)

[NOTE: This definition applies to the designation of release time for research in regard to workload and teaching considerations. It is not related to criteria for Tenure/Promotion and would not meet the standards for either.]

While recognizing disciplinary differences within the university, the expectation that a faculty member is eligible to receive 3 hours of reassigned time for research is based on that person demonstrating an ongoing research agenda in the annual review and successful publication of a KPI-recognized research product within a 3-year time period. If a KPI-recognized research product is not published (or completed in the case of presentations) after a 2-year period, faculty will receive a warning that if no product is forthcoming for one more year, they will not receive reassigned time for research purposes. Tenure-track faculty designated as non-research active would then be required to teach 12 hours per semester; non tenure-track faculty would be required to teach 15 hours per semester.

For the purposes of reassigned time for research, an ongoing research agenda would be demonstrated through

  1. Annual evidence of research agenda, and
  2. One KPI-recognized product within the previous 3–year period.

Annual Evidence of Research Agenda

Annual evidence of a research agenda will be presented at the time of annual review, via documentation posted on Digital Measures. Examples of annual evidence would include, but not be limited to:

  1. Presenting research at 1 national/international disciplinary conference in a 12-month period;
  2. Mentoring and co-presentation of a minimum of 2 student research-based peer-reviewed presentations at national/international conference(s) within a 12-month period;
  3. Documentation of publications in-progress or submitted for review within a 12-month period, including but not limited to:
    • Letters indicating journal articles have been submitted and are currently under review,
    • Drafts of books/book chapters with new content developed during the 12-month period under review,
    • Notices of accepted/conducted research presentation(s) at national/international conference(s) within the 12-month period under review;
    • Documentation of submitted grant application as principal investigator of a national/international competitive research grant of $30,000 or more;
  4. Publication of one KPI-recognized product within the 12-month period under review.

KPI-Recognized Research Product

In addition to annual documentation of an active research agenda, faculty members must provide documentation of a completed KPI-recognized research project/product within a 3-year period. Examples of documentation of a completed KPI-recognized research project/product would include, but not be limited to:

  1. Publication of 1 peer-reviewed journal article involving dissemination of research conducted by the faculty member;
  2. Publication of 1 peer-reviewed book;
  3. Publication of 1 peer-reviewed book chapter;
  4. Principal investigator of a national/international competitive research grant of $30,000 or more, approved for funding;
  5. Juried exhibits or performances.

Approval/Denial of Research-Active Status

Faculty research active status will be reviewed annually, using documentation from a 2-year time period. Members will retain “research-active status” and appropriate 3-hour release time from teaching if:

  1. annual evidence of research active status is provided, and
  2. one KPI-recognized product is published/completed within that 2-year time frame.

If a faculty member does not provide annual evidence of active research (as described above), he or she will not receive three hours reassigned time for research. Further, if a faculty member does not publish a KPI-recognized product (or completed in the case of some projects) after a 2-year time period, he or she will receive a warning that if no product is forthcoming for one more year, he or she will not receive reassigned time and will teach 12 hours per semester (if tenure-track faculty) or 15 hours per semester (if non-tenure track faculty).