Recognized as the academic standard of excellence for appointment, promotion, and tenure of faculty at institutions of higher education, scholarship has historically required the publication of peer-reviewed federally funded research. Broome et al. (2019) examined nursing productivity related to research and scholarship at each academic rank in both tenure and nontenure tracks in nursing schools by the mean number of publications and citations at each rank [h-index]. These narrow perspectives constrain faculty, particularly clinicians of health professions, who have limited academic protected time and a non-research doctorate, but nonetheless are vital for their contributions to broader academic missions such as community engagement, creating clinical guidelines, innovation in curriculum/course design, excellence in safety and quality improvement initiatives, teaching evidence-based clinical practice through the translation of research findings, implementation of best practices, and developing health policy.

Further, on the national level, in 2016, a designated task force through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) was tasked to write a position statement, Defining Scholarship for Academic Nursing, for today's academic setting to support the belief that scholarship should be inclusive and applicable not only to scientists, but also to practice, education, and policy scholars (AACN, 2018). This environment provided the opportunity for campus entities, including our graduate nursing school, to reassess the complex role of faculty and the definition of scholarship where research, teaching, practice, and service are all recognized.