The Santa Clara University Faculty Handbook emphasizes the value of discipline-specific scholarship standards for tenure and promotion in Section 3.4.2:
Because the nature of teaching, scholarship or artistic creativity, and service differs in some respects among academic disciplines, the faculty of the college, schools, and division develop, adopt, and publish their respective clarifications of the three criteria. Candidates for tenure or promotion are referred to these publications, as amended from time to time, for a detailed explanation of the standards and procedures by which they will be evaluated.
In accord with the Faculty Handbook, discipline-specific standards for tenure and promotion have been developed by departments or disciplinary areas to clarify the promotion and tenure criteria and guidelines for both candidates and evaluators. These standards should inform and guide, but not dictate, the professional review of a candidate’s portfolio. As noted in the Handbook, the standards may be revised over time to reflect changes and refinements within the discipline.
School, departmental, or discipline-specific standards do not weaken or dilute University standards. Rather, they elaborate how the University standards should be applied in the context of the discipline. Faculty Handbook Section 3.4.2 identifies the University standards for scholarship and creative activity as follows:
Scholarly work is defined as scholarly or scientific articles published in learned or professional journals; scholarly or scientific books; textbooks distinguished for the originality and value of their content or method; and any intensive study of the kind recognized as research in the various academic disciplines. Creative work is defined as recognized accomplishment or significant production in the arts of painting, sculpture, music, drama, fiction, poetry, dance, journalism, or the like.
Candidates for promotion and tenure are required to demonstrate superior accomplishment in scholarship, as well as in teaching and service.
At the Provost’s request, department and division faculty first drafted disciplinary scholarship standards in 2013-15 to clarify promotion and tenure criteria for both candidates and evaluators. A UCC-appointed consulting group with extensive rank and tenure experience provided feedback to the deans. Deans returned the draft documents to the academic areas, providing their own feedback along with the comments from the consulting group. Each draft document was revised as needed before approval by the relevant dean. Faculty were given two academic years to opt-in to the use of the standards before use was required in academic year 2017-18 (Discipline Specific Standards Background and Implementation).
The standards are intended to be living documents, which departments may adjust as they see fit, at least every five years.
A University-wide revision was scheduled for academic year 2020-21, but was delayed by the COVID pandemic. In place of required revisions, all departments were asked to develop "COVID riders" to their scholarship standards, to memorialize the impact of the pandemic on faculty scholarship and creative activity for evaluation and promotion petitions that encompassed the impacted years (Procedure for Developing Department Statements on Pandemic Impacts). Most riders were completed and approved by Spring 2022.
Some departments completed revisions of their scholarship standards during the 2020-22 academic years. Those that did not are welcome to submit revisions at any time, following the revision process and timeline outlined below.
- Programs at the department or school level may review and revise their disciplinary scholarship standards at any time.
- Departments should use the checklist of topics below as they consider revisions of their standards.
- The Faculty Affairs Committee is currently consulting with the Provost, deans, and Faculty Senate to develop a process for review, revision and posting of approved standards.
- In the meantime, departments should work with their deans or associate deans to reach an approved revision.
- Dean's Office staff will submit approved revisions at the online portal/tracker.
- Approved standards will be posted on the tracker, which will serve as a central repository.
- Faculty will normally use the standards current at the time an evaluation, reappointment, or promotion petition is initiated (winter for MPR, spring for tenure-stream promotion cases, fall for all other cases). Faculty may request an exception from the Provost to use an earlier form of the document.
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