Within their area(s) of expertise, all full-time ranked faculty members, including Library regular faculty are responsible for effective scholarly or creative activity. The university expects all faculty members to be active scholars or artists who contribute to the development and application of knowledge and create a dynamic environment for learning. The university expects a faculty member to establish a record of scholarly or creative endeavor that is meaningful within the scholar's discipline. Grand Valley State University uses three categories to describe scholarship/creative activities: Advancement of Knowledge/Creative Expression, Scholarly Engagement, and Professional Development (SG Section 3.01.E.3).

Advancement of Knowledge or Creative Expression

(Definition from SG 3.01.E.3: Scholarly and creative work in this form advances knowledge or creative expression in the field through two characteristics: (1) the product is in a publicly accessible format and is disseminated outside of GVSU, (2) the product utilizes a process to judge the quality and value of the contribution to the discipline; this is generally through the use of peer review, but some disciplines may use other appropriate processes.)

Advancement of Knowledge or Creative Expression includes, but is not limited to:

• Art works placed in a collection
• Artistic performances
• Case publications, if externally peer reviewed
• Conducting a professional ensemble
• Conference presentations (if full proposal is submitted for peer review)
• Conference proceedings papers (if full paper is submitted for peer review)
• Directing a professional play or film
• Exhibition of artwork outside of GVSU
• Film screened at a festival
• Open-access scholarly works, if quality has been established through an appropriate disciplinary process
• Peer-reviewed journal publications
• Preparation of a catalog or materials for an exhibition
• Photography exhibits
• Publishing a translation (if externally peer reviewed)
• Publishing drama, poetry, or fiction
• Recordings
• Scholarly book chapters, if peer reviewed
• Scholarly books (from a reputable publisher as recognized by the discipline)
• Serving as editor of a monograph or a journal special edition
• Trade/practitioner publications, if externally peer reviewed

Scholarly Engagement

(Definition from SG 3.01.E.3: Scholarly engagement demonstrates an active scholarly/creative activity agenda through the use of existing disciplinary knowledge to produce a product that is disseminated to peers, users, or decision makers. These products typically utilize less stringent public/private validation or judgment of work. Some of them will later become Advancement of Knowledge/Creative Expression (e.g., conference presentation that is later published as a peer-reviewed article). In addition, documented scholarly/creative work-in-progress fits into this category.)

Scholarly Engagement includes, but is not limited to:

• Awarded grant proposals (will also count when the work is produced)
• Trade/practitioner publications, if editorially reviewed
• Authorship of text/trade books or book chapters by a recognized publisher
• Open-access trade/practitioner works or trade/textbooks, if quality has been established through an appropriate disciplinary process
• In-house academic publications
• Textbook support materials
• Case publications, if editorially reviewed
• Development of web-based tools or digital resources
• Invited professional presentation outside GVSU
• Expert testimony
• Conference paper respondent
• Peer-review activities (including scholarly responses to conference papers) (product disseminated to decision-makers, i.e., editors)
• Conference proceeding papers (if abstract or summary is submitted)
• Conference presentations (if summary or abstract is submitted for review)
• Paper presentations in academic or professional venues
• Published articles in non-academic publications (newspapers, magazines etc.) in order to interpret and/or present research outcomes to the general public
• Presented to a governmental body or policy makers
• Wrote policy papers designed to influence organizations or governments
• Book/software/website reviews
• Professionally relevant blog with proof of substantial readership
• Authorship of published annotated bibliographies or webliographies
• Establishing a lab for a research project
• Literature review
• Data collection (including archival research)
• Sharing or publishing data
• Submitting manuscripts for publication
• Revising manuscripts for publication
• Preparing and submitting grant proposals
• Whitepapers or position papers

Professional Development

(Definition from SG 3.01.E.3: Scholarly and creative work of the professional development type are those scholarly and creative activities undertaken by educators to improve their disciplinary knowledge, competence, or skills.)

Professional Development includes, but is not limited to:

• Professional certification/licensure
• CPE for maintenance of certification
• Faculty internship
• Attending academic conferences
• Attending scholarly workshops
• Attending exhibitions in one's discipline
• Progress towards an academic degree
• Participation in departmental research colloquia or seminars

May Not Count for Annual Review, Contract Renewal, Tenure, and/or Promotion in the Area of Scholarly/Creative Activity – consult unit and college personnel documents and/or speak with unit head and college personnel committee chair, as appropriate

Service Activities:

• Conference activities (committee, planning, organizing, chairing a session)
• Serving on graduate committees
• Contributes to development or evaluation of curriculum
• Contributes to accreditation processes and reviews
• Serving on an editorial board for a publisher, journal, or magazine 
• Serving as a juror, referee, adjudicator, or curator
• Consulting in one's discipline
• Mentors junior colleagues in research or scholarship
• Leads in shaping educational policy 
• Participation in professional working groups, e.g., a standards committee
• Textbook evaluation/review
• Professional society reports, e.g., proposed standards

 Teaching Activities:

• Advances teaching effectiveness through professional development 
• Executive education activities
• Recognition/reward as a teacher
• Applies technology to teaching and learning appropriately 
• Collaborates with colleagues as a member of a multidisciplinary teaching group 
• Supervising student research projects 
• Collaborates with others to design teaching and learning activities for a course taught outside the discipline with dissemination

 Other:

• Membership in professional organizations
• Informal exchanges with peers
• Work referenced by others
• Donations of equipment and software
• Privately funded release time
• Positive peer assessments of innovations in teaching
• Presence in citation index or acknowledgement
• Letters to professional journals
• Use of a new tool, product, or new technology and equipment
• Achieved local, state, regional, national, or international recognition/award as a researcher in an identified area (the work itself counts)
• Positive peer evaluations received for work that advances the profession (the work itself counts)