EurekAlert June 30, 2021
At the core of the college tenure and promotion system is the notion that those who are the most deserving are promoted. But, is that truly the case? In a 3-year study sponsored by NSF, a team of researchers in the US (University of Houston, Hampton University, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, University of Alabama, Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Rice University) is examining the college tenure and promotion process in academic careers in STEM and challenge some basic assumptions regarding merit as the sole driving force. They posit that candidate and letter writer characteristics unrelated to candidate’s scholarly productivity shape the linguistic content and length of external review letters, thus introducing a source of bias into tenure and promotion processes….read more.