BHI Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure with the Balanced Case

In accord with campus guidelines for the balanced case, the BHI department at LSICE requires at least highly satisfactory achievement in all three traditional areas of academic work: research, teaching and service. In aggregate, a candidate’s achievements in these areas should be comparable to the achievements in a dossier based on excellence in one area with at least satisfactory work in the other two.

Tenure candidates must document peer-reviewed scholarship in all three areas: research, teaching and learning, and service. This scholarship should demonstrate independence from mentors and senior collaborators, innovation in theory or practice in the discipline (or in transdisciplinary work), and significant impact. Candidates for full rank based on the balanced case should document ongoing scholarly production in all three areas.

The balanced case dossier for tenure should document an upward trajectory of achievement in all three areas during the probationary period, and indicate a strong potential for greater future achievement in all three areas.

Balanced case candidates for tenure should have received at least one significant external grant as principal investigator (PI) in rank. Candidates for full rank based on the balanced case should demonstrate external funding support in rank as Principal Investigator (PI) for their contributions in at least one area of academic work.

In the balanced case dossier, any specific achievement must be credited to only one area of academic work (research, teaching or service). Balanced case criteria do not require achievements to demonstrate an integrative strategy, although this may strengthen the dossier. Similarly, the balanced case dossier may be strengthened by evidence that the candidate’s work has advanced the principles and practices of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Research in the Balanced Case:

For highly satisfactory in research, tenure candidates should document a substantial body of high-quality scholarly work over the years of review. This work should be disseminated in peer- reviewed venues appropriate to the field, with clear indication of a rising level of selectivity (i.e. progressing from venues with high acceptance rates to those with lower rates), and a rising level of intellectual leadership (eg. Increasing number of senior author publications). If this scholarly work has not yet established the candidate’s reputation as an emerging thought-leader in the field, the dossier should clearly demonstrate the potential to attain such distinction.

The balanced case dossier could demonstrate the candidate’s ability to compete successfully for significant external grants, contracts and other forms of support from peer-reviewed sources.

Teaching in the Balanced Case:

For highly satisfactory in teaching, candidates should document achievements over the years of review in:

1. classroom / online teaching;
2. advising and mentoring;
3. course and curricular development; and
4. the scholarship of teaching and learning.

The balanced case does not require equal achievement in all four categories, but in aggregate these achievements should rise to a level of highly satisfactory in teaching.

In the categories of teaching and mentoring (#1 and #2), candidates should present evidence of student evaluation scores that average well above departmental norms during the years of review. The dossier should also document other indicators of pedagogical effectiveness and student success that demonstrate the candidate’s superior teaching.

In the category of curricular development (#3), the dossier must document the candidate’s ability to develop and implement innovations in courses and curricula,and explain their correlation to student success. In the scholarship of teaching and learning (#4), the dossier should document all internal and external peer-reviewed venues of dissemination (e.g. in publications, conference presentations, invited talks). Balanced case candidates must disseminate of the scholarship beyond the campus.

To merit an evaluation of highly satisfactory at the BHI, LSICE, the balanced case dossier must also document the candidate’s ability to successfully apply for external and/or internal grants, contracts, and other peer-reviewed awards that support and recognize the candidate’s teaching, mentoring and curricular development.

Service in the Balanced Case:

For highly satisfactory in service, the balanced case dossier should document the candidate’s:

1. service to the department and school (called “citizenship”); and /or
2. service to the university; (a part of “citizenship”);
3. service to the profession/discipline; and/or
4. civically engaged service, or service to the community (broadly defined to include local, regional, national or international communities); and
5. scholarship of service.

The balanced case does not require equal achievement in all five categories, but in aggregate these achievements should rise to a level of highly satisfactory in service. A highly satisfactory evaluation requires citizenship (#1 and #2) and scholarship (#5), as well as some significant service either to the profession (#3) and/or to the community (#4).

In categories #1 and #2, the dossier should document the candidate’s evolving leadership in departmental and school service responsibilities, and an evolving participation in campus service. In category #3, candidates are expected to demonstrate increasingly significant contributions to professional organizations, conferences or journals (e.g. progressing from journal reviewer to membership on an editorial board). Validation of the candidate’s work in category #3 may come from professional peers with direct knowledge of this work.

In category #4, the candidate’s service to the community must be based on scholarly expertise. If such service is a significant element in the candidate’s work, the dossier should document outcomes and impact, support received (e.g. grants and contracts), and validation from stakeholders, including non-academic experts in the community. Achievements that significantly advance the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion in the profession and the community are particularly valuable to the university’s mission; balanced case candidates are strongly encouraged to pursue and document such work.

In category #5, the scholarship of service may be disseminated via traditional publications or conferences, and may also include other retrievable artifacts appropriate to the work (e.g. a report delivered to a community agency). For such artifacts, the dossier should explain their significance, audience and impact, and the candidate’s role in their creation.