More than 1 in 4 (27%) of Duke’s regular-rank faculty members have joint or secondary appointments.
Duke has revised its appointment, promotion and tenure standards to recognize and reward interdisciplinary research and public-facing scholarship. A similar process is underway to revise tenure and promotion standards for interdisciplinary teaching and mentoring.
Duke’s Office for Faculty Advancement provides leadership, guidance and oversight of university-wide strategies and programs to support faculty throughout their career lifespan.
Four to five faculty members are selected annually for the Langford Lectureship Award based on the appeal of their research to an interdisciplinary faculty audience, as well as their embodiment of former Provost Langford’s dedication to teaching, research and service.
The Bass Connections Leadership Award recognizes outstanding faculty for their efforts to create a positive and enriching team experience for students.
In 2007, the provost’s joint school/UIC hiring program for tenured and tenure‐track faculty facilitated UIC [university institutes, initiatives and centers] partnerships with the schools, enhancing Duke’s vision of knowledge in the service of society and raising the profile of interdisciplinary studies at Duke. In 2012, Duke initiated a second cluster of joint hires between schools and UICs, bringing nearly 40 faculty members to Duke.
More recently, the Duke Science & Technology initiative has attracted another 40 faculty members, with interdisciplinary research agendas in areas like quantum computing, precision genomics and materials science.
Duke has established several mechanisms to review interdisciplinary research activity by departments and interdisciplinary units. A university-wide committee reviews departments with Ph.D. programs on a seven-year cycle. This process considers departmental contributions to interdisciplinary educational programs and the quality and impact of research output, including faculty engagement with interdisciplinary and cross-school research communities, as well as translation of research findings and receipt of interdisciplinary center grants.
Schools also regularly review their own interdisciplinary units, with close attention to external funding and research outputs. Every five to seven years, a faculty committee scrutinizes all university-wide interdisciplinary units, examining breadth of faculty participation, degree of research-grounded engagement with external decision-makers, and innovation in interdisciplinary education.