Biology Department Statement on Scholarship
1. What forms of scholarship define the work of those in your department at their best?
At its best, scholarship by the faculty in biology at Luther College should provide mentoring to undergraduates in the process of science, as well as provide a testing of the faculty member’s ideas beyond the criticism of undergraduates, at the level of one’s peers in the discipline. Scholarship includes a host of activities relating to the process of developing new knowledge in the life sciences. This includes the formulation of hypotheses, collection of new data, analysis of data, review of scientific literature, preparation of papers for presentation at scientific meetings, writing manuscripts for publication in scientific journals, and writing proposals to obtain funding. In addition, scholarship in biology at Luther might include the communication of biological concepts to a lay audience (e.g. essays, educational materials), reviews and critiques of other work in biology, and applied studies that use the tools of biology.
2. What forms of peer review – including those beyond the Luther campus – are appropriate for that work?
Manuscript reviews and publication in peer-reviewed journals and grant proposal reviews and successful grant applications are two standard forms of external peer review for biology faculty. Less formal external peer review takes place through the presentation of papers at scientific meetings. Less formal internal peer review takes place at our biology colloquium and other on-campus research presentations.
3. How can you encourage and enable your colleagues to see that such work bears fruit in their teaching?
The nature or subject of one’s scholarship should reflect the interests of the individual faculty member. One’s scholarship should be motivated by a curiosity about fundamental relationships in the living world. Direct correlation with courses taught is beneficial; indeed, at its best, one’s scholarship is intentionally incorporated into courses. However, direct application to the courses one is teaching is not an essential component of strong scholarship, but it should apply to the mentoring of undergraduates through directed research. An active scholar inherently contributes to the strength of the biology program, to the quality of the educational opportunities for students, and to the development of the faculty member as a scientist, teacher and mentor.
4. What depth and range of achievement in scholarship at the third year, tenure review, and application for promotion to full professor should distinguish the work of Luther faculty?
The Luther College handbook (Section 404.1.2) identifies significant professional activity as one measure of faculty performance, and scholarship is identified as one aspect of that professional activity. Some aspects of professional activity are valuable and should be encouraged for Luther biology faculty, e.g. participation and leadership in professional organizations, but would be considered separate from scholarship.
In the third year review, evaluation of the faculty member’s level of scholarship needs to occur in the context of the “starting point” at which the faculty’s research and teaching began at Luther. The rate at which an individual faculty can be expected to develop a research program may reflect several factors: 1) prior teaching experience may impact on the amount of time required for course development; 2) previous research experience may provide expertise and direction for research; 3) the extent to which new equipment is required to establish the project, and the associated costs of that equipment, may define the focus of initial research activities; and 4) collaborations with other laboratories and investigators. The potential for undergraduate research opportunities is paramount. Scholarly work from graduate and postdoctoral studies should have been submitted for publication by the time of the third year review. In most cases, future scholarly work would focus on work initiated at Luther.
By the time of the tenure review a faculty member should have a record of published scholarly work. For tenure, a faculty member needs to have in place an ongoing active research program that has made reasonable progress: that is, one’s research is generating publishable results, has had funding at a reasonable level, and includes regular conference participation. Coauthorship with undergraduates is important; student presentations are expected. The research must be evaluated in the context of the number of students involved, the complexity of the research itself, the extent to which new techniques and/or instrumentation are required, the potential for sustained funding, and the types of papers/presentations by which the research is presented to the broader science community.
For promotion to full professor, the faculty member must be maintaining an active research program (including undergraduate researchers, funding, conference participation, publications/presentations as indicated for tenure). The productive use of sabbatical leaves to strengthen an ongoing research program, or to initiate a new area of research, is an important aspect of senior faculty development. Faculty need to foster an attitude, among colleagues and students alike, which emphasizes scholarship as integral to faculty development and quality science education.
5. What distinctive forms of scholarship can thrive at a liberal arts college of the church?
Probably the most distinctive aspect of scholarship that can thrive at a school like Luther is the type of scholarly activity that seeks to be inclusive of undergraduate students.