It's time to give up old categories of thinking for "intellectual contributions." When you deal with this arena of activity, imagine categories that fit the mission of your school, not categories used in the past. For example, for a teaching-oriented program with a strong regional service emphasis, a usable set of categories for showing intellectual contributions, both on faculty data sheets and in summary statements, might be: Pedagogical Innovation, Pedagogical Research, Course/Instructional Materials, Application Articles, Other.

For a school with most emphasis on a practice-oriented MBA program and community connections, a usable set of categories might be: Applications on Urban Issues, Applied Management Articles, Instructional Development and Research, Basic Research, Other.

Choosing the right set of categories and placing them in priority order can (1) focus faculty effort and (2) help a review team understand your program. Traditional categories of books, articles, presentations, proceedings, etc., help no one. Those categories are unrelated to mission. They give faculty an ambiguous message about what is important to the school, and they make it difficult for reviewers to relate your activity to your mission.

Choose your intellectual contribution categories to match your mission. They will assist you to reach your continuous improvement goals.