Documentation of community-engaged scholarship is critical to aligning faculty work with most institutions’ promotion and tenure guidelines and meeting institutional goals. At a research university where the dossier for promotion and tenure needs to show clear evidence of contribution in an area of research, presenting and documenting work in the community in a way that reflects teaching, research, and service may represent a challenge. This article presents findings from an analysis of documents and artifacts representing how faculty present their work to their institutional and disciplinary colleagues. Four approaches to documentation are identified: as part of traditional faculty roles for teaching, research and service; as something that synthesizes all three of these roles; as a new and important “public work;” as a guide for colleagues and administrators who review and assess the dossier. Implications of these findings for faculty, administrators and scholars researching engagement are explored.

Moore, T. L. & Ward, K. (2008). Documenting engagement: Faculty perspectives on self-representation for promotion and tenure. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement,12(4), 5-24.