This document serves as a supplement to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty Standards of Competence and Performance to provide additional expectations appropriate to the department’s discipline. It serves to clarify how the collegiate standards can be applied and evaluated within the department.

Department values statement

As an accredited School of Journalism and Mass Communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at a premier research institution, we maintain several key commitments:

  1. to produce scholarship, creative or professional work commensurate with rank and track;
  2. to provide the highest-quality professional journalism and mass communication education that is rooted in the liberal arts;
  3. to educate and mentor graduate students to pursue innovative research and develop strong pedagogy; and
  4. to meaningfully serve the department, college, university, and professions.

We embrace a model that encourages and rewards faculty to continuously improve their teaching and research and to seek opportunities to serve and lead.  

Basic expectations for all faculty

All tracks and ranks

Teaching

  • When appropriate, supervise and mentor graduate student teaching assistants.
  • Participate in processes related to ACEJMC accreditation of the undergraduate program in Journalism and Mass Communication, particularly as it relates to implementing and assessing SJMC learning goals.

Service

  • Participate in meetings, planning, deliberation, and development of the self study for ACEJMC accreditation of the undergraduate program in Journalism and Mass Communication.
  • Participate in the ACEJMC site visit as requested by the DEO and site team.

Tenure-track faculty expectations

All tenure-track ranks

Teaching

  • Participate in graduate education by teaching graduate courses (as assigned), serving on graduate student committees, and/or serving on the departmental Graduate Committee. Assistant professors are not expected to advise graduate students.

Research

  • The department acknowledges that subdisciplines differ widely with regard to the time and effort required to produce a significant empirical or theoretical publication. Accordingly, it is anticipated that faculty members may have very different rates of productivity. In addition, the department recognizes that some faculty are in fields that require and expect journal articles and others require and expect scholarly books.
  • The department recognizes that co-authored work is common in some subfields and not others. The department will rely on the classifications used by CLAS to determine authorship. These are single author, major author, co-author, and minor author. Faculty members are responsible for annotating their own co-authored publications.
  • The department does not stipulate a particular rate of publications or set of journals, but as a general guideline, a tenure-track faculty member will produce an average of two publications in reputable peer-reviewed journals each year or the equivalent in the form of longer monographs, books in-progress, or law review articles.
  • A reputable scholarly journal is characterized by a commitment to rigorous peer review, high-quality production standards, and transparent editorial policies. Other characteristics include an active editorial board, inclusion in reputable indexing databases (e.g., Web of Science), and a history of publishing quality research relevant to the faculty member’s field.
  • A reputable book publisher is characterized by rigorous review standards, high-quality production standards, transparent editorial policies, and a history of publishing quality research relevant to the faculty member’s field.
  • The department also values community-engaged research that both generates knowledge within the discipline and demonstrates societal impact. If a large proportion of a faculty member’s research is community engaged, they may elect to have that work assessed according to engagement best practices.

Service

  • Engage in undergraduate and graduate student recruitment and support activities.
  • Assistant professors are not expected to take on departmental leadership roles.

Assistant professor

No additional unique expectations beyond the basic expectations for all faculty and those for all tenure-track faculty ranks.

Associate professor

Service

  • Mentor and support fixed-term faculty (e.g., visitors and adjuncts).

Full professor

Service

  • Vary service portfolio to meet departmental needs and reduce burdens on early-career faculty.

Instructional-track faculty expectations

All instructional-track ranks

Instructional-track faculty

Teaching
  • Participate in professional development activities related to teaching and pedagogy.
Service
  • Engage in undergraduate student recruitment and support activities such as advising a student organization or supporting student media.

Practice-track faculty

Teaching
  • Participate in professional development activities related to teaching and pedagogy.
Service
  • Engage in undergraduate student recruitment and support activities such as advising a student organization or supporting student media.
  • Participate in relevant professional service activities such as participating on or moderating a panel discussion, speaking to professional and community groups, and engaging in professional conferences.
  • Serve as a liaison between students and the professions.
Professional activity
  • Remain current in the field and stay connected to other professionals and organizations in journalism, strategic communication, and other media industries relevant to the faculty members’ field.
  • Maintain ethical standards consistent with the code of ethics of relevant professional organizations, such as the Society of Professional Journalists or Public Relations Society of America.
  • Engage in professional activities relevant to the faculty members’ industry, including, but not limited to publishing in newspapers, magazines or newsletters; producing and airing television packages; producing or sharing high-quality media content on social media; creating and publishing professional-quality video and audio; creating professional-quality web and graphic design; working with external clients to produce marketing and strategic communication materials.

Assistant professor of instruction/practice

No additional unique expectations beyond the basic expectations for all faculty and those for all instructional-track faculty ranks.

Associate professor of instruction/practice

Associate professor of instruction

Service
  • Mentor and support fixed-term faculty (e.g., visitors and adjuncts).

Associate professor of practice

Service
  • Mentor and support fixed-term faculty (e.g., visitors and adjuncts).
  • Seek leadership opportunities in professional organizations or industries.
Professional activity
  • Expand and vary professional practice and development activities to contribute to the faculty member’s industry.

Full professor of instruction/practice

Professor of instruction

Teaching
  • Contribute to discussions on effective teaching practices in the department, college, university, or broader professional community.

Professor of practice

Professional activity
  • Expand and vary professional practice and development activities to contribute to the faculty member’s industry.