Nov. 28 faculty panel will explore Scholarship in Action

Nov. 28 faculty panel will explore Scholarship in ActionNovember 16, 2007SU News ServicesSUnews@syr.edu

The University Senate Committee on Academic Affairs will sponsor a faculty panel on “Scholarship in Action: Four Case Studies at SU” on Wednesday, Nov. 28, from 4-6 p.m. in the Robert Halmi Room, 141 Newhouse III. All SU faculty members are welcome to attend.

Louise Phelps, professor in the Writing Program in The College of Arts and Sciences, former chair of the Senate Academic Affairs Committee and author of a white paper on Scholarship in Action, will begin the discussion with a brief summary on the white paper and the purpose of the panel. She will be followed by four faculty members from various disciplines who will present their scholarly activities within the contexts of community-engaged teacher, public intellectual or community partner-in-action. Each will explain how their work aligns with the Scholarship in Action vision, discussing why it is a scholarly activity, how it could be evaluated for tenure, and raising some of the challenges in changing the university culture to accept and reward this kind of work. Interaction with the audience will be encouraged.

Scholarship in Action encompasses three main elements: faculty excellence and scholarly distinction embracing the full range of scholarly modalities; access and support for enterprising students; and engagement with the world.

“The Senate Academic Affairs Committee has spent more than two years looking carefully at Scholarship in Action, as envisioned by Chancellor Nancy Cantor and others,” says Larry Elin, professor of television, radio and film in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and chair of the committee. “The purpose of this panel is to foster understanding and discussion on Scholarship in Action among the faculty.”

Panel participants will include Steve Davis, associate professor and chair of the newspaper department in the Newhouse School; Beverly Allen, professor of literatures, languages and linguistics in The College of Arts and Sciences (A&S); Anne Beffel, associate professor of foundation in the College of Visual and Performing Arts; and Elizabeth Lasch-Quinn, professor of history in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and A&S. The panel will be moderated by Harvey Teres, professor of English in A&S.

For more information on the committee’s work, visit http://universitysenate.syr.edu/academic/academic.html.