How promotion committees should assess COVID impact statements (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed

Documenting the pandemic’s effect, especially on women faculty and those of color, is vital, write Donna Riley and Mangala Subramaniam, who offer advice on how to assess such statements.

In recent months, we’ve been hearing much discussion about how the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests for racial justice have impacted people across the world. It’s clear by now that these forces will continue to have long-term ramifications within academe. In fact, documenting the effects that they’ve had, and will continue to have, on faculty members is vital. That’s especially the case for women and faculty of color, which also means that the college leaders evaluating them should interpret such documentation in an equitable way.

How can you best assess a faculty member’s COVID impact statement using an equity lens? We will try to answer that question in this essay by providing promotion committees some points to consider when reviewing such statements. We hope it will be helpful, as concerns have surfaced about how chairs and members of promotion committees will evaluate impact statements. Will they be compassionate and value people’s efforts to recalibrate to a new reality during an unprecedented time? Or will they dismiss any impact statement as an inappropriate plea for accommodation from a faculty member—or a reflection that person just hasn’t been resilient enough?

Many colleges and universities have created guidelines for reviewing impact statements, and best practices for such...

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