Research Scholarship and Creative Activity

CFETI offers many programs and services in partnership with the Colleges, Office of Research, and others to support faculty in developing their research, scholarship, and creative activity (RSCA). 

• Semester Strategic Planning

  • The Black Academic’s Guide to Winning Tenure without Losing Your Soul, by Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Tracy Laszloffy (2008), has an excellent chapter on “Tenure and TIme Management.” In it, they briefly refer to the concept of a “Sunday Meeting,” which you can read more about in a brief Inside Higher Ed article Rockquemore wrote (2010).

    Check out our guide, which walks you through Rockquemore and Laszloffy’s steps of identifying your professional goals, outlining your projects and tasks, and map them onto time.

• Prepare Your Publication Pipeline

  • It can be challenging to preserve time to write or engage in other scholarly or creative activity. Yet, as you know, it is important to remain engaged in research, scholarship and creative activity (RSCA)--not only because it is required of you by university policy, but also because your students' success is directly connected to your own intellectual engagement and growth. 

    We have prepared a Publication Pipeline Tool that you can customize for the stages of your publication process. It will enable you to visualize the projects you have in the works or want to launch, and track their progress so you can identify clogs and keep them moving forward.

    If you want to further your practice, we recommend the following readings:

    Short Articles:
    • Furtak (2016), "My Writing Productivity Pipeline"
    • Cohen (2019), "How to write a lot on a heavy teaching load"
    • Evans (2018), "6 writing productivity hacks used by successful academics"
    • Lee (2017), "How to develop a strategic writing plan"
    
    Longer Guides (available as ebooks at the library): 
    • Jensen, J. (2017). Write no matter what: Advice for academics. University of Chicago Press. 
    • Mazak, C. (2022). Making time to write: How to resist the patriarchy and take control of your academic career through writing. Morgan James Publishing. 
    • Silvia, P. (2019). How to write a lot: a practical guide to productive academic writing. American Psychological Association. 
    • Johnson, W. B. (2007). Write to the top! How to be a prolific academic. Palgrave McMillan.

• How I Write

  • In this May 2024 workshop, faculty with strong publication records shared their approach to creating realistic RSCA plans and discussed the highs (and lows) of the RSCA process. Participants gained tips and strategies for their RSCA agenda, as well as tools to create a summer RSCA plan that allows for rest and relaxation.

    If you missed the session, you can still access the following resources:

    How I Write: workshop recording
    How I Write: A Summer RSCA Workbook: make a copy, fill it out, and discuss your plan with a colleague, your department chair, Associate Dean for Research--don't go it alone!

• RSCA Funding Opportunities

  • The Office of Research maintains a list of internal and external funding opportunities to support your RSCA. CFETI staff will be very happy to provide you with any assistance we can as you develop your ideas and craft your applications.