The vague definition of scholarship for faculty will be the center of debate Tuesday when the Faculty Senate reviews the promotions and tenure policy.

Discussions on the policy will include the evaluation processes of both tenured and non-tenured faculty. According to the current policy, tenured professors are required to fulfill all areas of scholarship, but non-tenured professors don’t have to fulfill such requirements, said Sanjeev Agarwal, Faculty Senate president-elect.

The promotions and tenure policy was instituted in 1999 and determines the way faculty are evaluated for tenure. It is up for its five-year review.

Jack Girton, Faculty Senate president, said the 1999 policy included a broader definition of scholarship along with a statement of position responsibility.

Agarwal said the position responsibility statement is a document faculty members discuss with their department chairman or chairwoman. It is also used to evaluate their performance.

Agarwal said under the position responsibility statement, each faculty member must negotiate an amount of time spent on two or more areas of scholarship. The proportion of time spent on each of the areas may differ with every faculty member, taking advantage of strengths.

The current areas of scholarship are teaching, research and professional practice. Girton said any faculty member may have different proportions of time dedicated to different areas of scholarship, but must cover all the areas.

“[Faculty scholarship] is important because faculty are expected to be creative, innovative scholars as part of their jobs,” Girton said.

Girton said his major concern is wordings in the current policy that aren’t clear. For example, he said, the current definition of scholarship is “intellectual property created.” According to the policy, teaching materials such as lecture notes aren’t included as intellectual property; however, according to university policy, those materials are included.

“There are a lot of contradictions,” Girton said.

He said some of the controversy involves how to evaluate different faculty members with greatly differing interests. Girton said under current rules, some members with more emphasis in research have different criteria than members who concentrate more on teaching.

Besides discussion over the promotions and tenure policy, Agarwal said, the meeting will also cover proposed changes in the organization of committees in Faculty Senate.

Denise Vrchota, Faculty Senate Governance Committee chairwoman, said the committee was asked by Girton to look at the senate structure and see if there was any way to reduce its bulk.

A proposed plan of action would eliminate one committee, the Senate Elections Committee, and combine two other committees.

The Faculty Senate will meet 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the North Room of the Gateway Center Hotel, U.S. Highway 30 and Elwood Drive.