Chapter 6: Expanding the Scope of Scholarship in Leadership Education

Teaching, service, and scholarship: these are the primary roles for faculty at colleges and universities, including those working in leadership studies or related disciplines. While teaching and service are essential faculty activities, for many, conducting research and creating scholarly artifacts are often perceived as having higher importance for two critical reasons. First, institutional tenure and promotion decisions heavily emphasize scholarship output. Faculty may need to document a specific number of publications or other forms of scholarship to meet tenure and promotion requirements. This documentation provides an objective and distinct measure by which a committee can determine whether an individual has earned tenure and promotion. Second, scholarship output is a quantifiable way for faculty to show professional vitality, especially outside one’s institution. Professional vitality is important for faculty members as they look for employment or other opportunities outside their institution, whether within higher education or other sectors of the economy. Indeed, publications can be considered the currency of academia. Publication in peer-reviewed disciplinary academic journals is the current gold standard that supports promotion and tenure, as well as professional vitality.