Guidance for Rewarding and Recognizing Community-Engaged Scholarship in the Arts

Community-engaged scholarship is increasing in importance in arts colleges throughout the Big Ten and other institutions, but it is often misunderstood, defined only as a service activity, and reviewed with the narrow criteria of more traditional forms of scholarship. This white paper discusses the importance of community-engaged scholarship in the arts, summarizes recent research related to this scholarship, and offers strategies for supporting and reviewing faculty whose work is centered in community engagement. It is intended to guide provosts, deans, and department chairs alike in understanding this work and developing policies and procedures that will lead to successful evaluation of faculty. Strategies include adopting inclusive language in mission statements and policy documents, revisiting evaluation criteria to ensure that they are applicable beyond traditional forms of scholarship, providing mentorship and development opportunities for faculty in understanding community engagement, and clarifying expectations for early-career faculty.