ADVANCE Partnership: Supporting Public Impact Research through Institutional Transformation (SPIRIT)

The Supporting Public Impact Research through Institutional Transformation (SPIRIT) project brings the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and four land-grant research universities, Pennsylvania State University, University of California-Davis, University of Texas at San Antonio, and Washington State University, into a partnership to identify and address systemic inequities in academic workplaces in STEM. The research literature indicates that professional organizations are well positioned to effect positive change in member institutions. The project will also include five National Knowledge Partners: ADVANCE Partnership: Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES), Advancing Research Impacts in Society (ARIS), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Promotion and Tenure in Innovation & Entrepreneurship (PTIE), and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The SPIRIT project will pilot and evaluate institutional changes to faculty evaluation and assessment to address epistemic exclusion and better support scholars pursuing Public Impact Research (PIR). The SPIRIT project will facilitate pilot projects at partner institutions to implement and evaluate changes in faculty evaluation around PIR. It will coordinate a learning community of the partner institutions, establish a long-term exchange of progress and learning with the National Knowledge Partners, and disseminate outcomes and results from the partners. This partnership will be evaluated formatively and summatively by an external evaluator and will be supported by an external Technical Assistant Advisory Board. The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Partnership" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.