Office of
Research and Creative Scholarship

Faculty Activity Reports (FAR)

NOTE: The next Faculty Activity Report will be due May 31, 2024, covering January 1, 2023 - April 30, 2024.
You may enter activities year-round; the online system is always open.

All regular faculty, adjunct faculty, staff with faculty appointment, research faculty, senior research faculty, and emeritus faculty are eligible to complete the Research & Creative Scholarship FAR and receive the Research FAR award funds.  Please note that in order to receive Research FAR award credit, your publications and presentations must include your Andrews University affiliation.  

Index

  1. The Purpose of the Awards
  2. Completing the FAR Report
  3. Faculty Activity Report Rubric, Citation Guide, and Reporting Service Load Instructions

The Purpose of the Awards

The annual faculty research and creative activity award has been established to recognize research and creative scholarship of Andrews University faculty members. Awards are given to each faculty member who submits an annual Research Faculty Activity Report (Research FAR) with scored activities. Research FAR awards range from $50 to $1000, depending upon the number and scoring of the activities reported for the previous year. Faculty members may choose to receive their award as a (taxable) enhancement to their paycheck, or may use the award as reimbursement for professional development expenses that would otherwise be paid directly by the faculty member. Faculty members have up to three years to utilize their award.

To receive the award as taxable income, email research@andrews.edu with your request. In order to cover the additional expenses to the University for providing a cash award, the cash award will be reduced by 20%.  Please allow two to four weeks for the award to appear on your paycheck.

If you do not request the award as cash, it will automatically be held for your use for professional development reimbursement. In order to receive the professional development reimbursement, please submit a signed expense report along with your original receipts to the Office of Research. Activities qualifying for professional development reimbursement include the following:

  • Professional memberships
  • Travel to conferences or workshops
  • Travel for the purpose of research or networking with collaborators
  • Book/software purchases in your research area
  • Other otherwise unreimbursed expenses that enhance your research or professional development

Completing the FAR

  1. Log in at https://vault.andrews.edu/faculty-report/research/index.
  2. Select “Research / Creative Activity,” "Service Activity," or "Professional Development Activity" tab at the top. 
  3. Select “Add Activity” to submit an entry (e.g., a single presentation, article, etc.).
  4. Enter the date and category of the specific scholarly activity, making sure the reporting year "2023-24" is selected.
  5. Citation: Use the “citation examples” to enter the appropriate information. This is used to create the annual online reports available online.
  6. Comments: If the entry requires explanation, enter it here.  For example, if you upload a 100-page abstract book, please indicate the page number where your abstract is located.
  7. URL/Documentation: Attach a file and/or enter a web link as documentation. Please use either PDF or Word format for your uploaded files. You can upload only one file per entry. If you need to upload multiple files, please merge them into one document before uploading.
  8. Scoring: Enter a score based on the provided options. If you wish to override the automatic scoring calculation, please enter your recommended score and provide your rationale in the Comments. For service and professional development, the hours entered should be justified in the comments.
  9. Save: Click “Save” to submit this entry. Then begin again at #2 to report your next item of scholarly activity.

We specifically request your help in ensuring that student research activities are appropriately reported. For this reason, we have added a zero-score rubric category for publications and presentations for you to enter the student research activities for which you are the academic advisor/committee chair/program director. Please use this category to report student research which would otherwise go unreported because no faculty is able to claim the score as a mentor. This is in addition to the 50% score given for student research for which your mentorship is acknowledged.

Please note that your Research FAR Report home page has four tabs: “Submitted for Review”, “In Process”, “Completed”, and “Archived”.  After you submit your entries, they will be located under the “Submitted for Review” tab.  When the Office of Research checks your entry for formatting and documentation, it will be moved into the “In Process” tab. Then, once the scoring is confirmed, it will be moved into the “Completed” tab.  Previous years’ FAR reports can be viewed under the “Archived” tab.

Once you have completed entering all of your scholarly activities, please send a one-line email to research@andrews.edu with “FAR: Entry Complete” in the subject line.

If you are a full-time faculty member and have nothing to report for this year, please send an email to research@andrews.edu with  “FAR: Nothing to Report” in the subject line, and a paragraph explanation regarding your ongoing scholarly activities and what you are working on that can be reported next year.

The Office of Research will audit each of your scores and inform you that your entries have been processed. You will be given at least one week to review the audited FAR and appeal scoring changes (by providing additional clarification or documentation) before final awards will be determined.

Please report activities that have occurred during the previous fiscal year (May 1, 2023 – April 30, 2024). Activities that occurred during the earlier months of 2023 (January – April) that were not reported the previous year may also be reported—but please no double-counting.

NOTE: All activities that are reported should include the Andrews University affiliation of the faculty member in order to be scored.

New faculty may cite work begun prior to AU employment so long as the publication/presentation is subsequent to being hired by Andrews University. To receive credit, the citation must indicate the “current address” as Andrews University for publications and presentations.

Adjunct faculty, Staff with Faculty Appointment, Research and Emeritus faculty are eligible for the FAR award so long as they maintain an active affiliation with Andrews University and include their Andrews University affiliation on their publications and presentations.

Faculty Activity Report Rubric, Citation Guide, and Reporting Instructions

Submission Timeline    

Timeline Action
May 31  The online entry portal is open year-round; however, each faculty member must enter and self-score the reported activities by the end of May.  Faculty members submit the FAR entries and supporting documentation online (https://vault.andrews.edu/faculty-report/research/index).
June - July  Research Office audits the reported activities and scores, communicating with the faculty member directly regarding missing documentation or scoring questions.
July - August  If needed, unresolved disagreements may be submitted to a subcommittee of the Scholarly Research Council for arbitration.
August 15 Research Office reports to each faculty member their final score and award/bonus amount based upon their score.
September 

Faculty members’ Annual Reports are populated with the FAR entries, which are accessible to the Department Chairs and Deans. 
Faculty publications and presentations are posted to the Research website.