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
Communication creates meaning and builds worlds. The mission of the Department of Communication Studies is to explore the central role that communication plays in shaping our relationships, institutions, and societies. Our department prepares students to serve as innovative scholars, engaged citizens, effective communicators, and visionary leaders in all of the communities they inhabit. In the realms of research and scholarship, we operate as an interdisciplinary hub for cutting-edge innovation that builds intellectual bridges across disciplines within the writing and communication university.
The Department of Communication Studies’ core values continue to be guided by the forward-looking, interdisciplinary approach articulated decades ago by our building’s namesake, Samuel L. Becker. Also known as “Mr. University of Iowa,” because of the major leadership roles he played within UI over the decades, this native Iowan joined our faculty in 1950 and was a benevolent presence until his death in 2012. Sam pushed his colleagues to ask “interesting questions,” instead of adhering to constraints imposed by rigid disciplinary boundaries. In short, he wanted scholars to pursue ideas and approaches that help us view the world from a new perspective and to create positive social change. Related to the spirit of creative inquiry, our department values intellectual work of all types and purposes, from traditional scholarly publishing to artistic exhibition and encourages faculty members to pursue their intellectual interests wherever they may lead them.
At different stages of their careers, faculty may wish to explore new fields and modes of scholarship and teaching, to begin to pursue radically different intellectual work, and to attend to interesting questions and projects that often get sidelined in the rush to achieve rank. Hence, the department realizes that faculty who undertake these changes in direction may have very different profiles than in the past and may take a substantial amount of time to produce new forms of inquiry or creative expression. In such cases, the standards of scholarly achievement will be based on progress toward articulated goals, rather than regularity of production.
The department provides undergraduate students with a broad liberal arts education that emphasizes the skills and social implications of human communicative practices, as well as to provide them with the critical thinking tools they need to thrive in the workplace, and in life. Communication Studies champions engagement and outreach in both teaching and scholarship, with an emphasis on mutually-beneficial learning and intellectual exchange.
Basic expectations for all faculty
All tracks and ranks
Because faculty often have joint appointments with other units, departmental expectations for research, teaching, and service may vary depending on the Memorandum of Understanding with the College.
Teaching
- Regularly teach across all appropriate levels across the curriculum
- Regularly serve as course supervisors for graduate student TAs’ classes, including conducting course observations, as assigned
- Update all course materials and content consistently, as appropriate to the topic
Service
- Participate in departmental governance by regularly serving on committees.
- Recognizing that faculty in the department have varying percentages of appointment, expectations for teaching and service will similarly differ
Tenure-track faculty expectations
Assistant professor
No additional unique expectations beyond the basic expectations for all faculty and those for all tenure-track faculty ranks.
Associate professor
Teaching
- Mentor, advise, and serve on the committees of graduate students to support their academic and professional development. (Undergraduate advising is not expected, as full-time academic advisors serve undergraduate students.)
Research
- Demonstrates systematic and consistent progress toward intellectual goals in their research and scholarship.
- Faculty’s public facing presentation of scholarship and/or creative work may also fulfill expectations for scholarship. Including, but not limited to: developing and presenting community workshops and/or arts programming; appearing on local/national/international media programs (e.g., radio programs television news programs, podcasts); serving as an expert contributor and/or research referenced in online and print publications (e.g., newspapers, magazines); writing for online and/or print publications (e.g., op-eds, regularly published columns and/or blogs).
- Faculty may demonstrate research with graduate students through co-authored peer-reviewed journal articles and/or book chapters.
- The department encourages faculty to take time to explore new fields and modes of scholarship, to pursue radically different intellectual directions, and to engage with compelling questions. In such cases, the standards of scholarly achievement will be based on progress toward articulated goals, rather than regularity of production.
Service
- Serve on faculty review committees as assigned by the DEO.
- When appropriate, engage in public and community service in ways that advance professional and institutional goals.
Full professor
Teaching
- Mentor, advise, and serve on the committees of graduate students to support their academic and professional development. (Undergraduate advising is not expected, as full-time academic advisors serve undergraduate students.)
Research
- The department encourages faculty to take time to explore new fields and modes of scholarship, to pursue radically different intellectual directions, and to engage with compelling questions. In such cases, the standards of scholarly achievement will be based on progress toward articulated goals, rather than regularity of production.
- Faculty’s public facing presentation of scholarship and/or creative work may also fulfill expectations for scholarship. Including, but not limited to: developing and presenting community workshops and/or arts programming; appearing on local/national/international media programs (e.g., radio programs television news programs, podcasts); serving as an expert contributor and/or research referenced in online and print publications (e.g., newspapers, magazines); writing for online and/or print publications (e.g., op-eds, regularly published columns and/or blogs).
Service
- Serve on faculty review committees as assigned by the DEO.
- When appropriate, engage in public and community service in ways that advance professional and institutional goals.
Instructional-track faculty expectations
Assistant professor of instruction/practice
No additional unique expectations beyond the basic expectations for all faculty.
Associate professor of instruction/practice
Teaching
- Participate in curriculum development and assessment activities to ensure continuous program improvement.
- When appropriate, participate in the development of space planning and equipment requests required to run specialized courses.
- Mentor and advise graduate students in teaching as appropriate.
Service
- Develop service profiles that focus on supporting undergraduate student success, such as advising departmental student organizations, developing networks that engage undergraduates, connecting them with alums, or other strategic priorities.
- When appropriate, engage in public and university community service in ways that advance professional and institutional goals.
Full professor of instruction/practice
Teaching
- Provide leadership in curriculum development and assessment activities to ensure continuous program improvement.
- When appropriate, participate in the development of space planning and equipment requests required to run specialized courses.
- Mentor and advise faculty and graduate students in teaching as appropriate.
Service
- Develop service profiles that support undergraduate student success and advance the department’s strategic priorities. This may include advising departmental student organizations, fostering alumni networks, contributing to curriculum development or assessment, participating in recruitment and retention initiatives, or building partnerships that strengthen the department’s role in the college and university.
- When appropriate, engage in public or professional service in ways that advance both departmental and institutional goals.