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Finding our inner voices: Rediscovering scholarship

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Abstract

This essay explores the need to reconsider how we define, reward, and support scholarship, and the philosophical foundation of what a scholar really is. Noting that only 10 to 15% of the professoriate regularly publish, the author questions if some faculty become stymied and distanced from their work because of the gap that exists between what they want to do and what their institutions expect them to do. Could more faculty find their voices as scholars and public intellectuals if universities and colleges ascribed more value to the scholarships of teaching, practice, and service? The surprising results of a survey of members of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education are included.

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Joseph M. Moxley is professor of English at the University of South Florida. He has edited, authored, or co-authored seven books, includingThe Politics and Processes of Scholarship. He has published over thirty articles and stories and served as an editor for several academic journals. In 1994 and 1990, he received Florida Board of Regents' Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He offers academic writing workshops for faculty.

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Moxley, J.M. Finding our inner voices: Rediscovering scholarship. Innov High Educ 20, 183–199 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01190590

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