As we chart a new path forward, we must develop a shared vision for the future of faculty. We must align faculty work, evaluation, and rewards to allow faculty greater career autonomy, create incentives for interdisciplinary collaboration and create opportunities to solve grand societal challenges.
To expand our curricular offerings and attract diverse academic experiences, we must expand our faculty definitions and categories. Such flexibility will also help retain faculty by providing pathways for success focused on their areas of interest and strength.
To empower the faculty of the future, we must reimagine evaluation, promotion, and tenure criteria to be customizable to individual faculty strengths in teaching, research, creative activity, or service. The new criteria must allow faculty to chart their career paths while emphasizing one or more of the categories without having to address them all equally. We must celebrate academic freedom, strengthen shared governance, and incentivize professional development.