RETURN TO STANDARD SCHOLARSHIP. The award of tenure confirms that a faculty member has met the standard scholarship expectations during her or his probationary period. In the years after being awarded tenure, however, the focus of some faculty members may shift such that they do not fulfill the standard scholarship requirements for one or more years. Because of an administrative assignment or substantial service a faculty member may have suspended scholarship activity, for example. Another faculty member may have completed reduced scholarship because of an elevated teaching load. Regardless of the reason for past levels of productivity in scholarship, a faculty member will be assigned the standard load in scholarship when he or she identifies a realistic plan for meeting the standard load expectations, including specific agreed-‐ upon outcomes to be achieved in the coming year. The plan might include an outcome such as a submitted grant proposal or refereed scholarly article, chapter(s) in a book that have been completed, or substantial research gathered for a larger research project. The plan must also include documented preparation for the proposed project. If the faculty member satisfactorily achieves the agreed to outcome for an individual year and submits appropriate outcomes for the following year, then he or she will be permitted to continue with a standard research assignment the next year. If the faculty member does not meet the agreed-‐upon outcomes, then his or her service or teaching will be increased for the following year. To be acceptable, outcomes must be high quality, publishable scholarly products or well developed grant proposals that involve substantial scholarly work done during the previous academic year. Chairs are not obligated to accept plans that do not meet these criteria.
