University of California, Davis
ER-19: Interdisciplinary Research in Tenure and Promotion

UC Davis has a culture of interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, as seen in the many centers and Organized Research Units that facilitate and support such research. The Chancellor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Research Final Report acknowledges current strengths in interdisciplinary research and calls for further enhancement and strengthening of such research; and an independent assessment of research at UC Davis also notes that UC Davis has been listed by the National Science Foundation “in 11th place among institutions with doctoral recipients reporting two or more research fields as part of their dissertation work” (page 51; External Review of Research, University of California, Davis; May 27, 2010; the Washington Advisory Group). UC Davis does not have a policy that specifically rewards inter-disciplinary research in the merit and promotion process for academic personnel, however, department chairs and deans often remark on this in their promotion letters, to talk about the unique value of such work and these projects are considered during faculty promotion and tenure decisions through the existing policy regarding merit and promotion decisions. In addition, the campus Academic Senate Committee on Academic Personnel has concurred that the current policy (APM UCD-220) provides guidelines for the personnel process; the CAP report can be found here: http://academicsenate.ucdavis.edu/rfc/view.cfm?rfc=8, and page 4, items 8 and 9 discuss the Academic Senate CAP perspective on interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary research credit in merit/promotion evaluation. The exact policy language can be found at: http://academicpersonnel.ucdavis.edu/anncall/apm-210.pdf.