I agree completely with the thesis presented by Richard Cherwitz in your Jan. 17 issue.1 However, while I agree with Cherwitz that teaching is part of the mission of our academic institutions and is examined for tenure decisions, I disagree that this activity is valued to the extent that he suggests.
Perhaps such citizen scholars deserve even more recognition than those conducting just research. The problem is that the business of research is the culture of our ivory-tower existence, and it will not change until leadership defines our scholarly activity for tenure and promotion and pay raises also to include "community service" as Cherwitz has defined it. Said differently and using his terminology, the citizen scholar must be recognized with the same level of distinction as those who do "pure" science research if we are to evolve in the academy.
In my own case, I have had a successful research ...
