Letters from scholars

The Evolving Culture of Scholarship and Research at National University: Some Thoughts From Over the Years

Gary Hoban

National University, since its inception, has always had a commitment to faculty scholarship.  In its early years, however, National was most often thought of, both by its faculty and administration as well as by academic colleagues from outside the University, as solely a teaching university. Even today, in its official allocation of faculty time for academic duties, at least 70 percent of a National University faculty member's time is to be dedicated to teaching.

Although National University is primarily a teaching university, there has been a steady and consistent evolution of a culture of scholarship and research since 1989 when Chancellor Lee assumed its leadership. In the early years of the University's life there were no academic ranks and with that no impetus for faculty scholarship. All of that changed in the early 1990s and the three criteria for faculty evaluation for re-appointment, promotion, and merit awards became--as is the case in most universities-- achievement in teaching, scholarship, and service. At the outset of this evolution, teaching and service dominated the thinking of those considering the contributions of faculty, but today scholarship is a critical factor as well.

In the early 1990s, scholarship at National University was most frequently defined and influenced by the late Ernest Boyer's Scholarship Revisited. Priorities of the Professorate.*   In that work, Boyer discussed four types of scholarship: the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, the scholarship of application, and the scholarship of teaching. It was the scholarship of teaching, and to a lesser extent, the scholarship of application, that most National University faculty could relate to. That, however, has changed and increasingly the University is beginning to see more and more efforts in the scholarship of discovery-the creation of new knowledge-and the scholarship of integration-the compilation and interpretation of information resulting in new insights into larger intellectual patterns within or between disciplines.

While this evolution of a culture of scholarship and research began in the early 1990s, it received a major impetus in academic year 2001-2002 when Chancellor Lee established the President's Commission on Research and it presented its report, "Research and Scholarship at National University."  That report not only chronicled the beginnings of a culture of scholarship and research at the University, but it also made 32 specific recommendations designed to enhance the growth of scholarship and research at National University.  A great many of those recommendations have now been fully implemented, including the following:

  1. Resources to support scholarship and research continues to be enhanced through Professional Development monies of up to $2400 per faculty member and through Presidential awards granting reduced teaching loads to enable faculty to engage in research.
  2. Merit awards take into account faculty efforts in scholarship and research.
  3. More senior faculty with research backgrounds are joining the University faculty.
  4. A new research journal has been established and will be published in the very near future.
  5. An annual Distinguished Faculty Scholarship/Research Award is now presented at the Fall Academic Assembly.
  6. Distinguished scholars are invited to address the faculty.
  7. A Research Council is now fully functional and providing faculty guidance in establishing a research agenda for the University and in helping colleagues find venues for publicizing their research. The University now publishes an annual Faculty Scholarship/Research Directory chronicling faculty publications, presentations, and artistic creations.
  8. An Office of Grants is fully functional and helps faculty secure external funding for scholarly and research projects.
  9. A research newsletter is now being launched to assist colleagues in publicizing their work and in directing them to venues for publication and presentations.

These steps, which encompass a number of the Commission's recommendations, along with the ongoing efforts of the University's Faculty Senate, Graduate Council, Undergraduate Council, Research Council, and the Council of Chairs all have contributed to the evolution of National University into a true contemporary university with a strong scholarship and research orientation. Today, in addition to the scholarly work of faculty, most Masters programs at the University now require a major research capstone project. The prospect of the University offering doctoral programs also bodes well for a culture of scholarship and research to reach well beyond faculty directly to students. National University, in terms of scholarship and research, is not the University it was 25 years ago. It has come a long way. Now we are in for a brighter future.

*Boyer, E. L. (1990) Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton, N.J.: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Roland Fleck

My interest in research began during my doctoral program at the University of Georgia where I received my doctorate in 1970 from the Department of Educational Psychology with a major emphasis in both Developmental Psychology and Research Design. I had full-time college and university faculty positions from 1968 through 1981 and during that time I published 12 articles in peer-reviewed journals and made 29 presentations at peer-reviewed professional conferences. In addition, I co-authored a book that was published in 1981 and wrote chapters for two other edited books. My major research interests during that time were in the areas of cognitive styles, the effects of father psychological absence, and psychology of religion. In addition, I chaired approximately 15 doctoral dissertations between 1975 and 1981 and served as a committee member for a number of other dissertations. The doctoral dissertations I chaired were all empirical research studies, and most were related to research interests of mine.

I left academic psychology in 1981 and was in full-time psychotherapy private practice until 1995. In 1995 I started to do a significant amount of outside consulting in the area of alcohol and drug treatment. In addition, I taught my first course as an adjunct faculty member at National University in July, 1995. I remained an adjunct faculty member at National University until being appointed as a full-time faculty member in the Department of Psychology in March of 2004.

In the past three years as a full-time faculty member at National University, I have started to pursue research interests again. My interests have changed significantly over the past 20+ years, but it has been personally challenging and rewarding to identify my current interests and begin to pursue work in these areas. During the past three years I have authored or co-authored eight papers presented at peer-reviewed conferences in psychology including one paper at the American Psychological Association annual conference in 2005. In addition, I have five papers and/or posters accepted for presentation at upcoming peer-reviewed conferences in Florida, Vancouver, BC, and the American Psychological Association annual conference in San Francisco in August, 2007. My current research interests include: Using motivational interviewing in treatment and supervision; religious-spiritual identity issues; cross-cultural relationship issues; and immigrant children parenting issues. I am currently working on developing journal articles from two or three of the above paper presentation and hope to submit them in the next few months for possible publication in peer-reviewed journals.

The biggest current challenge that I am facing in pursuing scholarship at National University is focusing more on empirical research. The papers I have completed since being appointed to the full-time faculty at National University have been largely conceptual in nature rather than data-based empirical research. As I identify more clearly my current research interests, I hope to pursue empirical research as well as continuing to write and publish papers of a more conceptual nature.