Research Active
Revised by FAC March 9, 2023
Approved by LC April 20, 2023
While recognizing disciplinary differences within the university, faculty are eligible to receive 3 hours of reassigned time for research contingent upon demonstrating an ongoing research agenda through annual reviews and successful publication of a KPI-recognized research product within a rolling 3-year period.
If a KPI-recognized research product is not published or completed within 2 years, the faculty member will receive formal notification indicating that reassigned research time will be discontinued if no KPI-recognized product is produced in the subsequent year.
Tenure-track faculty designated as non-research active will be required to teach 12 credit hours per semester, while non-tenure-track faculty would be required to teach 15 credit hours per semester.
For the purposes of reassigned time for research, an ongoing research agenda would be demonstrated through
- Annual evidence of research agenda, and
- One KPI-recognized product within the the preceding 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 the Faculty Success system. Examples of annual evidence would include, but not be limited to:
- Presenting research at 1 national/international disciplinary conference in a 12-month period;
- 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;
- 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 or co-principal investigator of a competitive research grant or competitive grant that leads to research, of $30,000 or more;
- 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:
- Publication of 1 peer-reviewed journal article involving dissemination of research conducted by the faculty member;
- Publication of 1 peer-reviewed book;
- Publication of 1 peer-reviewed book chapter;
- Principal investigator or co-principal investigator of a competitive research grant or competitive grant that leads to research of $30,000 or more, approved for funding;
- Juried exhibits or performances.
Approval/Denial of Research-Active Status
Faculty research active status will be reviewed annually. Members will retain “research-active status” and appropriate 3-hour release time from teaching if:
- Annual evidence of research active status is provided, and
- One KPI-recognized product within the preceding 3-year period.
If a faculty member does not provide annual evidence of active research (as described above), he or she will not receive three hours of reassigned time for research. Further, if a faculty member has not published a KPI-recognized product (or completed, in the case of certain projects) within two consecutive years, they will receive a formal warning. If a KPI-recognized research product is still not published or completed within the following year, the faculty member will lose eligibility for reassigned research time. At that point, tenure-track faculty will be assigned a teaching load of 12 credit hours per semester, and non-tenure-track faculty will be assigned 15 credit hours per semester.