Scholarship

The term scholar implies superior intellectual, aesthetic, or creative attainment. A scholar engages at the highest levels of life-long learning and inquiry. The character of a scholar is demonstrated by academic achievement and rigorous academic practice. Over time, an active learner usually moves fluidly among different expressions of scholarship. However, it also is quite common and appropriate for scholars to prefer one expression over another. The following four expressions of scholarship (which are presented below in no particular order of importance) apply equally to Research, Teaching, and Community outreach.

Discovery

Discovery is the rigorous testing of researchable questions suggested by theory or models of how phenomena may operate. It is active experimentation, or exploration, with the primary goal of adding to the cumulative knowledge in a substantive way and of enhancing future prediction of the phenomena. Discovery also may involve original creation in writing, as well as creation, performance, or production in the performing arts, fine arts, architecture, graphic design, cinema, and broadcast media or related technologies.

Integration

Integration places isolated knowledge or observations in perspective. Integrating activities make connections across disciplines, theories, or models. Integration illuminates information, artistic creations in the literary and performing arts, or original work in a revealing way. It brings divergent knowledge together or creates and/or extends new theory.

Interpretation

Interpretation is the process of revealing, explaining, and making knowledge and creative processes clear to others or of interpreting the creative works of others. In essence, interpretation involves communicating knowledge and instilling skills and understanding that others may build upon and apply.

Application

Application involves asking how state-of-the-art knowledge can be responsibly applied to significant problems. Application primarily concerns assessing the efficacy of knowledge or creative activities within a particular context, refining its implications, assessing its generalizability, and using it to implement changes.