Faculty who are considering pursuing the new Balanced-Integrative DEI pathway for tenure and/or promotion are encouraged to participate in a new research study.

The pathway, approved by the IUPUI Faculty Council in May 2021, gives faculty an option to demonstrate a case of excellence that highlights their teaching, research and service achievements related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

IUPUI researchers have developed a project to study the potential outcomes of this revision to the tenure and promotion guidelines, which attracted national attention.

Gina Sánchez Gibau, left, and Teresa Sosa.Teresa Sosa and Gina Sánchez Gibau will explore how faculty navigate the process of establishing their case.

“We are very interested to learn about and understand the experiences of the faculty candidate, especially the type of support they may have received from their academic unit leaders along the way,” said Gibau, associate professor of anthropology and associate vice chancellor for faculty diversity and inclusion in the Office of Academic Affairs.

“It’s important to investigate how academic units develop or align unit-level criteria and standards for tenure and promotion in light of this new pathway,” said Sosa, associate professor in the School of Education and director of equity education in the Office of Academic Affairs.

Targeted recruits for the study include tenure-track faculty pursuing tenure and/or promotion and clinical faculty seeking promotion under the new guidelines.

“In addition to those pursuing this case, it is equally important for us to talk with faculty who are in academic units that cannot accommodate the new case type or who may have been dissuaded from pursuing this particular case for whatever reason,” Sosa said.

Interested faculty are encouraged to contact her at tsosa@iupui.edu.