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Five ways to support interdisciplinary work before tenure

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Abstract

Academic institutions often claim to promote interdisciplinary teaching and research. Prescriptions for successfully engaging in interdisciplinary efforts, however, are usually directed at the individuals doing the work rather than the institutions evaluating them for the purpose of tenure and promotion. Where institutional recommendations do exist, they are often general in nature and lacking concrete guidance. Here, we draw on our experiences as students and faculty participating in three interdisciplinary water resource management programs in the USA to propose five practices that academic institutions can adopt to effectively support interdisciplinary work. We focus on reforms that will support pre-tenure faculty because we believe that an investment in interdisciplinary work early in one’s career is both particularly challenging and seldom rewarded. Recommended reforms include (1) creating metrics that reward interdisciplinary scholarship, (2) allowing faculty to “count” teaching and advising loads in interdisciplinary programs, (3) creating a “safe fail” for interdisciplinary research proposals and projects, (4) creating appropriate academic homes for interdisciplinary programs, and (5) rethinking “advancement of the discipline” as a basis for promotion and tenure.

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Notes

  1. This group came together in 2013 as part of an Innovation Working Group on “Building resilience in water governance: an interdisciplinary investigation into the social-ecological system dynamics of climate change.” The group was supported by the Western Tri-State Consortium EPSCoR Program and funded by National Science Foundation # NM 0814449. While many of our individual affiliations have changed since 2013, each of us was at one time affiliated with one or more of the three WRPs discussed in the article.

  2. This type for work is now more commonly referred to as multi-disciplinary (Khagram et al. 2010).

  3. Work in natural science and engineering fields is positivistic and embraces the scientific method as a means of generating knowledge. Conversely, much of the work in the social sciences (with the notable exceptions of economics, most of law, and much of political science) has a critical theoretical orientation, viewing knowledge as historically situated, socially constructed and infused with assumptions about power and control.

  4. Learn more about how to apply at http://www.uidaho.edu/cogs/envs-wr/academics/water-resources/igert-program.

  5. Idaho submitted pre-proposals to NSF in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2011 and 2012, NSF did away with the pre-proposal round, and Idaho submitted full proposals. The version submitted in 2012 was funded, starting 2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Environmental Studies MSC01 1110 1, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-0001, USA

    Melinda Harm Benson & Christopher D. Lippitt

  2. U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins, USA

    Ryan Morrison

  3. College of Law, University of Idaho, Moscow, USA

    Barbara Cosens

  4. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, USA

    Jan Boll

  5. College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, USA

    Brian C. Chaffin

  6. School of the Environment, Washington State University, Missoula, USA

    Alexander K. Fremier

  7. Department of Soil Physics, University of Idaho, Moscow, USA

    Robert Heinse

  8. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, Ohio University, Athens, USA

    Derek Kauneckis

  9. Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, USA

    Timothy E. Link

  10. Community and Regional Planning, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA

    Caroline E. Scruggs

  11. College of Civil Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA

    Mark Stone & Vanessa Valentin

Authors
  1. Melinda Harm Benson
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  2. Christopher D. Lippitt
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  4. Barbara Cosens
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  5. Jan Boll
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  6. Brian C. Chaffin
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  8. Robert Heinse
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  9. Derek Kauneckis
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  12. Mark Stone
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  13. Vanessa Valentin
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Correspondence to Melinda Harm Benson.

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Benson, M.H., Lippitt, C.D., Morrison, R. et al. Five ways to support interdisciplinary work before tenure. J Environ Stud Sci 6, 260–267 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-015-0326-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-015-0326-9

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