CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA
ACADEMIC SENATE
FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
REPORT TO
THE ACADEMIC SENATE
FA-011-910
Vision Statement for the Teacher–Scholar Model at Cal Poly Pomona
Faculty Affairs Committee
Date:
Executive Committee
Received and Forwarded
Date: 5/5/10
Academic Senate
Date: 5/19/10
First Reading
Referral
Vision Statement for the Teacher–Scholar Model at Cal Poly Pomona
Background
“The Evolution of the Teacher-Scholar” was one of the three major themes in our
WASC Institutional Proposal submitted in May, 2006 and in early 2008, following
all-university workshops and meetings, President Ortiz announced that the
Teacher-Scholar model was one of the University’s Core Values. However, as a
result of the WASC C&PR visit in Fall 2008 it became obvious that the campus
did not have a broadly-held, common definition of the term. Consequently, with
the full participation of the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate, the
Teacher-Scholar (T-S) Task Force was constituted consisting of one faculty
representative from each college, several members of the WASC TeacherScholar writing group, the Associate Vice President for Research, the Associate
Vice President for Faculty Affairs, and the Director of the Faculty Center for
Professional Development. This group was charged, among other things (see
attached) to “Develop an interpretation of the T-S model that is consistent with
the mission and vision of Cal Poly Pomona” and to “Increase campus awareness
and understanding of the CPP T-S model”. In addition, the T-S Task Force
developed a plan for engaging the faculty in a dialog about the model, conducted
a thorough literature review, identified indicators of progress, considered
obstacles to a full implementation of the model, and provided recommendations
for overcoming obstacles encountered. The T-S Task Force met regularly
starting in Spring 2009, building upon a White Paper developed by the separate
T-S Working Group during the fall quarter of 2008. A draft definition was
completed by the end of Spring 2009 and shared with the campus community in
several ways including university wide dialog at the Fall Conference on
September 21, 2009, a brown bag lunch that all faculty were invited to in order to
discus and cite examples on December 3, 2009, a poster presentation and
discussion at the Provost Symposium for Faculty Scholarship on December 11,
2009, When the definition was presented to the Executive Committee of the
Academic Senate (EC), the EC directed that the definition should be submitted to
the Senate as a referral following consultation during the Winter 2010 quarter
with several groups including the University Council of chairs and the Associate
Deans Council. The current version of our report (attached) incorporates
changes suggested during all of these consultations.
The following is intended to provide additional background on the work and
intentions of the T-S Task Force.
The Task Force reviewed definitions of Teacher-Scholar from several different
colleges and universities and found that they generally included, as one might
anticipate, emphasis on scholarship and teaching: faculty members at small
private liberal arts colleges, large public comprehensive universities, and major
research universities were considered to be “teacher-scholars” if they taught and
engaged in the traditional forms of academic scholarship. However, the Task
Force concluded that to “Develop an interpretation of the T-S model that is
consistent with the mission and vision of Cal Poly Pomona, with its emphasis on
polytechnic education and „learning by doing,‟ it was imperative to add a third,
unique section, termed „integration‟ that emphasized the importance of engaging
students in the intellectual processes of scholarship.
The Task Force also studied the seminal works of Ernest Boyer (1990, 1996) in
an attempt to develop a definition of scholarship that was as inclusive as
possible, one included the scholarship of faculty in all of our colleges as well as
the work of our colleagues who bring their intellect to bear upon the improvement
of pedagogy, and involvement with our surrounding community as well as the
more traditional areas of applied and pure research. The Task Force was
convinced by Boyer’s arguments that all of these forms of scholarship deserve to
be recognized as equally rigorous if they meet the general criteria of being new
contributions to their respective fields that are peer-reviewed and publically
presented according to the diversity of definitions of these activities that are
recognized in the broad academic community.
The Task Force sees this definition of the Teacher-Scholar as an ideal toward
which we hope the University will choose to move. We see this as a lofty ideal
toward which we hope many faculty will aspire and not a minimum standard that
all faculty would be expected to achieve. Based on an initial survey of our
colleagues we are convinced that there are many examples in recent years of
faculty whose teaching and scholarship exemplify these ideals. We recognize
however, that our very heavy teaching loads and limited resources pose barriers
that would need to be addressed before attainment of
these high goals could reasonably be expected to become common. We also
recognize that one way to move toward broader attainment of these high goals
would be to incorporate rewards for attainment into RTP documents. However
we believe it would be contrary to our institutional culture and traditions, not to
mention a violation of Appendix 16, to attempt to impose changes in RTP
documents. Rather, the Task Force believes that the best way to increase the
number of faculty who achieve these high ideals is to invite departments that
choose to do so, to revise their RTP documents to better acknowledge and
reward faculty who engage in activities that the department finds to be consistent
with their own objectives and standards. Nothing in this vision of the TeacherScholar model at CPP is intended to impose changes in RTP documents,
standards or expectations.
It is reasonable to anticipate that WASC will expect the campus to develop a
quantitative understanding of the present level of attainment of these goals and
indicators of progress that can be monitored in the coming years. We know that
the best way to do this will be to use indicators and reports that are already being
collected rather than to place added reporting burdens on the faculty and
departments. We are convinced that sufficient data to meet the expectations of
WASC are already being included in the annual reports that departments have
been filing for several years. Thus, we firmly believe that adopting this vision of
the Teacher-Scholar will not lead to significantly increased reporting
requirements or assessment activity by faculty and departments and that
analysis of reports and documents already required will provide sufficient data for
meeting the expectations of the University administration and WASC.
Resources
Faculty Affairs Committee, T-S task force, all faculty members
Discussion
The Faculty Affairs Committee extensively discussed the proposed Teacher-Scholar
Model Vision Statement. In general, the committee members were very supportive of
this statement and commend the extensive effort that the T-S Task Force has given to
the preparation of the vision statement. The committee proposed a few minor
modifications to the statement aimed at emphasizing the role of academic units in
defining scholarship appropriate to their discipline and as in some cases as required by
their accreditation agencies. Please let the committee know how you perceive these
recommendations.
Recommendation
The FA committee recommends adoption of the vision statement by the Academic
Senate and forwarding a recommendation to the President for adoption as Cal Poly’s
vision for the teacher-scholar model.
VISION STATEMENT FOR CAL POLY POMONA’S TEACHER-SCHOLAR
MODEL
DEFINITION:
Teacher-Scholars at Cal Poly Pomona are role models who actively promote lifelong intentional learning to our students, are actively engaged in advancing their
fields of inquiry, and are committed to blending teaching and scholarship into a
single synergistic endeavor that results in a creative integration of the two roles.
EXPLICATION:
1. Teaching
Cal Poly Pomona Teacher-Scholars apply knowledge from the frontiers of their
disciplines and pedagogical scholarships to the development of their courses and
the curriculum. Teacher-Scholars:
 Understand current developments in their disciplines, and use this
understanding to advance student learning and knowledge,
 Have knowledge of interdisciplinary and discipline-specific pedagogical
strategies, apply effective strategies to facilitate learning of a diverse
student population, use evidence-based assessment of teaching to improve
their pedagogy, and evaluate and analyze their pedagogy.
2. Scholarship
Cal Poly Pomona Teacher-Scholars engage in the practice of scholarship, which
is specifically defined by discipline and academic unit, and is broadly construed
to include the scholarship of discovery, integration, teaching, application and
engagement. While the scholarship of Teacher-Scholars varies widely across
disciplines at Cal Poly Pomona, it incorporates essential elements that define
scholarship, including research and/or creative work. Teacher-Scholars:
 Make intellectual and/or creative contributions that extend and/or develop
new knowledge or creative inquiry, discover, integrate or apply facts,
theories, artistic perceptions, or design to practice in their disciplines,
 Produce work that is peer reviewed, critiqued, juried and/or judged
congruent with discipline standards, and results in a publication,
presentation, creative work or other product disseminated to a wider
audience beyond the Cal Poly Pomona community.
3. Integration
Cal Poly Pomona Teacher-Scholars integrate scholarship and teaching to create
a synthesis greater than both activities. Teacher-Scholars:
 Bring the practice of their own scholarship into the classroom in an
appropriate way,
 Promote a community of inquiry in their role as faculty members, and model
and encourage academically rigorous scholarship as appropriate to their
discipline,
 Foster a climate in which faculty/student scholarly, research, practice, or
artistic collaboration can take place by:
o enhancing student learning through meaningful experiences at Cal
Poly Pomona as appropriate in their discipline through inquiry based
classroom, studio, laboratory, practice and field activities that are
embedded within the curriculum,
o collaborating with students in a culture of learn-by-doing inquiry,
discovery, professional practice and/or creative work through the
involvement of students in scholarship outside of regular coursework.
SCOPE:
The scholarly and creative activities of Teacher-Scholars vary widely across
disciplines at Cal Poly Pomona. Consistent with discipline practices, academic
departments/units may adapt this vision statement to establish the standards to
which Teacher-Scholars are held.