Policy School Deans Want It All: Results of a Survey of APSIA Deans and Top-50 Political Science Department Chairs on Hiring and Promotion

Abstract

How do intellectual leaders of professional schools of international affairs, whose institutions primarily educate and train master's students for careers in government, the non-governmental sector, and the private sector, differ from academic administrators in disciplinary departments, whose primary raison d’être is producing the next generation of scholars whose primary task is to conduct basic research, in terms of how they see the academic enterprise and their expectations of faculty research and writing? The results of our recent survey of deans of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), the leading professional body for international relations-oriented policy schools, and chairs of Top-50 political science departments, reveal some predictable differences but also some surprising overlap. Specifically, we find a clear convergence between disciplinary departments and APSIA schools on the core requirements for promotion and tenure: Peer-reviewed publications in high-impact scholarly journals and leading university presses. But rather than relax demands for other activities by their faculty as they hold them to the expectations of their disciplines, APSIA deans still expect significant policy and broader public engagement from them. In other words, policy schools’ faculties face a greater array of professional demands than their disciplinary colleagues. APSIA schools simultaneously embrace the disciplinary criteria for excellence and still try to maintain a close policy focus as they seek to bridge the gap between these two worlds. How feasible this effort will turn out to be hinges on whether policy school faculty can indeed do it all.

The Cult of the Relevant: International Relations Scholars and Policy Engagement Beyond the Ivory Tower

“…Why pay for something that you are otherwise getting for free? The exception to this pattern would appear to be the members of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), who in addition to expecting high-level peer-reviewed scholarship also incorporate policy engagement activities into their tenure and promotion assessments, albeit with less weight (Desch et al 2022). Regardless, we argue, the puzzle should shift from “why aren’t IR scholars engaging the policy world?” to “why are many IR scholars engaging, despite few professional incentives—at least from their primary employers—to do so?”…”

“…These beliefs are consistent with those of department chairs at top-50 departments and deans of policy-focused professional schools of public and international affairs. Both groups prize peer-reviewed publications, with policy-school deans “wanting it all”: high-level scholarship and engagement, even if their hiring, tenure, and promotion practices value the former far more than the latter (Desch et al 2022). If anything, the puzzle might shift from “why aren’t IR scholars engaging the policy world” to “why are so many IR scholars engaging despite few professional incentives to do so?”…”

The Impact of Professional Training in Public and Policy Engagement

“…Yet, political scientists continue to face challenges when it comes to public and policy outreach. Perhaps most important, the professional criteria for evaluating university-based political scientists still do not tend to give much weight to public engagement (Desch et al 2022;Kendrowski 2022;Lupia and Aldrich 2015;Maliniak, Peterson, and Tierney 2019). Even in countries where university "impact" is explicitly evaluated by government agencies, promotion criteria for individual faculty members may not value public engagement (Williams and Grant 2018).…”

Diversified Integration of Civics Teaching Resources in Universities Based on Discrete Regression Model

“…Practical teaching of Civics and Political Science classes is an inseparable and important part of the whole teaching system of Civics and Political Science class, an effective carrier of practical education of people in Civics and Political Science class, and a key link to improve the teaching quality of Civics and Political Science class [11]- [12. Literature [13] argues that practical teaching of Civics and Political Science has been the weak link in cultivating talents in colleges and universities. Since the literature [14] put forward the specific requirements of "incorporating practical teaching into teaching plans, implementing credits, teaching contents, instructors and special funds; establishing relatively stable off-campus practical teaching bases; covering most students with practical teaching", practical teaching in Civics and Political Science courses has made some progress.…”