One of the most important challenges in interdisciplinary administration is ensuring that interdisciplinary teaching and research is appropriately rewarded in career progress decisions. The oft-observed danger is that academics are evaluated within discipline-based structures, and thus interdisciplinary contributions are under-appreciated.

Julie Thompson Klein provides a Coaching and Training Module Regarding Tenure and Promotion. It provides advice drawn from works cited below and others.

Lyall, Catherine; Bruce, Ann; Tait, Joyce, Meagher, Laura. Interdisciplinary Research Journeys, Huntingdon, GBR: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2011, [http://www.bloomsburyacademic.com/view/Interdisciplinary-Research-Journeys/book-ba-9781849661782.xml ] p. 174 (following the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors n.d.) provide the following advice:

· Structural Considerations can make a difference, so, prior to hiring, institutions need to ask themselves questions about the conditions they would provide for someone interdisciplinary.

· Position Creation and Institutional Acceptance, with diverse individuals involved in developing the description of the position and performance expectations in order to gain consensus about goals within the faculty, departments and administration.

· Search and Hiring : a Memorandum of Understanding can play a crucial role in ensuring common expectations among everyone concerned, including committees making decisions on career advancement.

· Junior Scholar Development, Mentoring and Protection can present different challenges for interdisciplinary academics that create difficulties in the tenure and promotion process (e.g. assessing contributions to multi-authored publications).

· Dossier Preparation and Evaluation processes need to acknowledge the ways in which interdisciplinary academics often work, particularly when they work in teams. Strategies recommended include annotation of CVs and provision of guidance to writers of reference letters.

· Senior Career Development can be facilitated by resources and rewards targeted by university leadership to interdisciplinary activities.

More advice is provided on the evaluation of interdisciplinary faculty members:

· In evaluating published outcomes of interdisciplinary research do not include journal prestige or citation patterns as criteria as both actively disadvantage interdisciplinary research outputs.

· In evaluating researchers themselves, links to excellent discipline-based research can be an advantage, but much more important is evidence of past success in conducting or leading interdisciplinary research.

· Where young, inexperienced researchers are involved, an integrative mindset is important and this can often be judged from the style of writing. The kind of focused mindset that can excel in a discipline-based context can be a disadvantage for interdisciplinary research.

· Well before the event, make it clear to those being evaluated the quality criteria by which their work will be judged.

Stephanie Pfirman and Paula J.S. Martin, "Facilitating Interdisciplinary Scholars," Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity (2010), 387-403, also provide detailed advice on hiring and career progress.

Kueffer C, Underwood E, Hirsch Hadorn G, Holderegger R, Lehning M, Pohl C, Schirmer M, Schwarzenbach R, Stauffacher M, Wuelser G, Edwards P, Enabling Effective Problem-oriented Research for Sustainable Development. Ecology and Society, V17, N4, art 8, 2012, argue that society can only address the complex environmental problems it faces if there is a change in the way research is done. Scientific work is increasingly subjected to public scrutiny. The best ways to address complexity, ensure saliency, and avoid bias is to pursue collaborative research that extends beyond the academy. This in turn requires a change in career progress incentives and training within the academy. Interdisciplinary expertise needs to be supported alongside disciplinary expertise. They propose radical changes in institutional structures, research and career incentives, teaching programs, and research partnerships.

Mathieu Albert,Elise Paradis, and Ayelet Kuper, Interdisciplinary promises versus practices in medicine: The decoupled experiences of social sciences and humanities scholars, Social Science and Medicine 126: 17-25, reports on the challenges faced by social scientists and humanists in medical environments.