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The need to recognize and reward academic service

Nature Reviews Materials volume 6, pages 960–962 (2021)Cite this article

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Service activities are critical in the pursuit of a more equitable and inclusive academic environment. We must ensure that the efforts required by these activities are properly recognized through rebalancing the academic workload, such that service is not provided at the expense of career progression.

When it comes to research success, academics can be rewarded with public acclaim, prestigious (and often monetary) prizes and rapid career promotions. However, most academics do more than research, also engaging in administrative, teaching and service roles. Importantly, many service activities are viewed as having short-term payoffs or as requirements to access funding opportunities. For example, the US National Science Foundation’s Broader Impacts requires that service, in the form of outreach and engagement, is undertaken to access funding, despite the fact that additional funding for those activities is not provided. In a similar manner, until mid-2020 certain UK funding providers required participation in the UK’s Athena SWAN Charter. When performed in a thoughtful and sustained manner, academic service can increase the attractiveness of STEM degrees to a diverse student population, improve student satisfaction and ultimately improve the reputation (and financial well-being) of an institution. Whereas research and teaching have well-defined (if somewhat problematic) metrics for ‘excellence’1, establishing equivalent analytical metrics for service presents a challenge. Therefore, we urgently need to understand the varied types of academic service and establish a means to meaningfully recognize the value these activities bring to institutions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Science Foundation (2126404).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Andrea M. Armani

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Christopher Jackson

  3. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Thomas A. Searles

  4. Department of Materials, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Jessica Wade

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  1. Andrea M. Armani
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  2. Christopher Jackson
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  4. Jessica Wade
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All authors contributed equally to the writing of the article.

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Correspondence to Andrea M. Armani.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Related links

#BlackInChem: https://blackinchem.org/

#BlackinNeuro: https://www.blackinneuro.com/

#BlackInPhysics: https://www.blackinphysics.org/about/

~2% of physics faculty members: https://www.aip.org/diversity-initiatives/team-up-task-force

Racial Justice and Equity Committee: https://www.nae.edu/239051/NAE-Announces-Committee-on-Racial-Justice-and-Equity-

UK’s Athena SWAN Charter: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/equality-charters/athena-swan-charter

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

US National Science Foundation’s Broader Impacts: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf022/bicexamples.pdf

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Armani, A.M., Jackson, C., Searles, T.A. et al. The need to recognize and reward academic service. Nat Rev Mater 6, 960–962 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00383-z

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