Guidance for Optional Statements

MyInfoVault (MIV) allows for the inclusion of several different statements, each used to supplement the advancement review process. Our Step-Plus guidelines allow for additional half-steps to be awarded for outstanding contributions in the areas of Research, Teaching, Service, or Professional Competence. These optional statements may highlight contributions to these areas that may not otherwise be fully realized or apparent in the dossier.

Common questions about the optional statements and their answers can be found on the "Frequently Asked Questions" tab.

Candidate Statement
Candidate’s Statements serve as an opportunity for academics to highlight their greatest accomplishments in all review criteria for their series. For example, academics required to do research or creative activities as part of their position responsibilities are always encouraged to explain the context and impact of their academic endeavors in their Candidate’s Statement so that reviewers can recognize their uniqueness and importance – this is far more important than reciting what is already documented in the dossier. While all areas of research, scholarship, and creativity are valued, candidates often appreciate the opportunity to highlight unusual and distinguishing features of their work, such as influencing public policy, international research and engagement, public scholarship, work with underrepresented or historically marginalized groups and disadvantaged communities, etc. Highlighting such efforts in the Candidate’s Statement can provide important insights not always evident in other elements of the advancement dossier. Rather than factually duplicate what is already available to reviewers in the dossier, candidates should be analytic, interpretive, and tell a story about their research that would otherwise not be captured. Statements are also an opportunity to go beyond merely listing university and public service by addressing the time commitments and impacts. Similarly, candidates can highlight their teaching and mentoring with respect to, for example, commitment, philosophy, innovation, and inclusion, interpretively going well beyond the listings in the dossier.

Candidates can also use this opportunity to highlight the activities cited in University of California Academic Personnel Manual 210-1.d:

The University of California is committed to excellence and equity in every facet of its mission. Contributions in all areas of faculty achievement that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging should be given due recognition in the academic personnel process, and they should be evaluated and credited in the same way as other faculty achievements. These contributions to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging can take a variety of forms including efforts to advance equitable access to education, public service that addresses the needs of California’s diverse population, or research in a scholar’s area of expertise that highlights inequalities. Mentoring and advising of students and faculty members, particularly from underrepresented and underserved populations, should be given due recognition in the teaching or service categories of the academic personnel process. [Rev. 3/25/2024]

There is a six-page limit for the candidate's statement.
Statement of Achievements Relative to Opportunities (*New—Coming Soon!)
Coming soon.
Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact
Faculty scholarship includes engaging locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, but the full breadth and impact of that work is not always appreciated or easily understood by those who evaluate their merit and promotion dossiers. It is important to understand, visualize, and evaluate the scope of faculty activities that fall under these cross-cutting and high-priority areas for the university. These activities span the pillars of faculty research, teaching, and service. As such, this optional statement provides faculty with the opportunity to specifically address areas of public and global impact in their dossier. Public and global impact may be evidenced by, for example: peer-reviewed publications, high-impact reports, community-based programs, knowledge being brought into the policy and decision-making process, improving professional practice, pedagogical innovations, public exhibitions/installations, grants, contracts or competitive awards, and ways in which faculty public and global impact intersects with efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Submitting this statement may help your colleagues evaluate holistically the impact of your publicly and globally-engaged work and appreciate with greater depth how this work fits within (or cuts across) your research, teaching, and/or service portfolio. There is no page limit for this statement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Why write a Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact?
Academic Senate and Academic Federation members (at all ranks) may choose to write an optional Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact to showcase the impact of their public scholarship and/or global engagement across all three categories of the dossier: research and creative activities, teaching and mentoring, and service. While the Candidate’s Statement normally treats these areas of activity separately, this statement instead emphasizes the connectedness and aggregate impact of an Academic Senate or Academic Federation member’s public and/or global work across one or more of the categories. It provides an opportunity to “tell the story” of the impact of one’s public scholarship and/or global engagement in ways that may not be apparent in the Candidate’s Statement.

Q2: Where can I find guidance on how to write an effective Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact?
Guidance, including a “tips” document and a short video, is provided on the Public Scholarship and Engagement and Global Affairs websites.

Q3: How is the Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact evaluated as part of the merit and promotion process? Can departments develop criteria for their discipline?
Departments and review committees are encouraged to develop clear criteria for considering the Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact and to communicate those criteria to candidates. Evaluators should view the statement as a document that adds value by referring to a range of activities whose impact may not be fully understood or appreciated through the Candidate’s Statement or other sections of MIV alone. These may include (but are not limited to) non-traditional scholarly outputs such as high-impact reports, public exhibitions, policy engagement, community-based programs, or championing international partnerships. These are described further in the guidance documents above.

Q4: Is it possible to receive extra steps within the Step Plus system based on a Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact?
This optional statement provides an opportunity for the candidate to highlight and draw attention to their contributions to public and global impact that may not otherwise be fully realized or apparent in the dossier; this, in turn, may see additional half-steps awarded for outstanding contributions in research, teaching, and service.

Additional Resources:
Guidance for Faculty on Writing the “Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact”
Merit and Promotion Guidance for Globally Engaged Scholars
Merit and Promotion Guidance for Engaged Scholars
Transcript for Video Explanation for Public and Global Impact Statement (12/4/2023)
Video Explanation for Public and Global Impact Statement (12/4/2023)
COVID Opportunities and Challenges Statement
UC Davis welcomes all members of its academic community to avail themselves of the opportunity to share with their colleagues and reviewers the impact the COVID pandemic has had on their next advancement since the pandemic began in Winter 2020, particularly research, scholarship, and creative activities; teaching and mentoring; and university and public service. This is a one-page limit for this statement.

Additional Resources:
Guidance for composing and providing COVID-19 Opportunities and Challenges Statements
Strike Impact Statement
The Strike Impact Statement allows academic to explain the impact the strike had on faculty research and teaching activities and any extraordinary efforts faculty may have made in service of the university’s teaching mission. Moreover, faculty will be able to include these extraordinary efforts under University Service in MIV. When writing about the strike and impact, ensure that you include dates describing the nature of the strike and when it occurred. There is a one-page limit for this statement.