Virginia Commonwealth University
ER-19: Interdisciplinary Research in Tenure and Promotion

Candidates for promotion and tenure must meet or exceed the basic standards for effective teaching. They must be competent classroom teachers and academic advisors. They must demonstrate mastery of their subject matter and be adept at communicating this understanding to their students. Most fundamentally, their students should learn. Their success in teaching should be documented by the following indicators including, specialized teaching; for example non-classroom based teaching, such as interdisciplinary teaching. Candidates for promotion, tenure, or promotion and tenure should be continuously and productively engaged in scholarly activity. Through his or her scholarly activity, the candidate should make a substantive contribution to the discipline that reflects high standards of quality in creativity, scholarship, and professional competence. The quality and significance of scholarly activity will be affirmed by peer evaluations and letters of evaluation from experts, particularly those outside of the University. The nature of a given candidate's contribution will vary in terms of experience, level of development, and the demands of particular fields and disciplines. Nevertheless, there are several general criteria for evaluating scholarly activity including educational research, including the development of innovative teaching methods incorporating technology into education and novel interdisciplinary courses. VCU's Strategic Plan, Quest for Distinction, has included increasing interdisciplinary collaborations that bring new perspectives to complex problems and mobilize creative energies that advance innovation and solve global challenges.