Making the Invisible Visible: DEI Pathways to Promotion and Tenure

Abstract

Promotion and tenure criteria must reward DEI and health equity work. Doing so credits service largely provided by historically minoritized faculty and faculty committed to public scholarship and community-engagement. In 2021, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis’ faculty senate overwhelmingly approved a new path to promotion centered on DEI, legitimizing DEI as a discipline and in service to communities and the institution. Similar work is underway at Rutgers/New Jersey Medical School and other institutions. Our goal is to present a session that offers key data, but most importantly faculty case-studies as examples of ways that DEI has been integrated by faculty seeking promotion and tenure, as well as examples of faculty submitting dossiers through this DEI-centered pathway. We will also offer examples of DEI-centered criteria and evidence supporting areas of excellence. Lastly, we will discuss the institutional process for proposing, engaging, approving, and implementing this major policy. Participants can expect a rich conversation with examples, as well as materials to either launch conversations at their own institutions or incorporating DEI into their dossiers for promotion and/or tenure.