Policy maker with academia help improve activities and understanding issues

Reward engagement. Like anyone else, faculty and academic researchers engage in activities they know will be rewarded. Higher education leaders should encourage discussion about how public engagement and engagement with policymakers are evaluated in different disciplines in terms of appointments, tenure, promotions, and salary-setting (June, Citation2018). Recognizing that humanities scholars may be engaged with different communities, the Modern Language Association (Citation2022) offers a set of principles to guide evaluation of public humanities scholarship in language and literature programs. These principles could be a guide for universities and departments seeking to provide guidance to faculty regarding public and policymaker engagement.

Provide media training and communications support. Colleges and universities can encourage academic researchers to engage in these recommended activities by providing training and other supports. Media and communications training can help academic researchers more effectively engage with policymakers, staff, reporters, and intermediaries. Communications experts can also help faculty develop one-page overviews of their work, craft press releases, and facilitate connections to reporters. They can also identify faculty who are content experts on particular subjects and issues for the press and other interested parties.

Protect the academic freedom and safety of faculty. Faculty and academic researchers who write op-eds, share research findings via social media, and engage in other public dissemination activities may be criticized or harassed for their views. Academic freedom is a defining value of higher education in the United States, and college and university leaders must support the free expression of ideas—liberal and conservative. It is also essential to provide resources and support to faculty members who experience threats or harm for expressing their views

Higher education leaders and faculty who are not immersed in the everyday work of policymaking might question the value or relevance of academic research to policymaking, but they should not. Policymakers and their staffs have many reasons to engage with faculty and academic research. They may be looking for new or original ideas or data on the effectiveness of a proposed change. They may be grappling with an issue they would like to better understand or looking for guidance on how to propose or implement an idea. They may also be looking for research that supports an idea they already have or disproves a solution or assumption they believe is unsound.

Regardless of the motivation, academic research can be helpful to those writing, proposing, and negotiating legislative proposals. Qualitative work provides stories that can be used to provide context and pique and sustain interest. Quantitative data back up those stories and allow for a leveling of facts. With its methodological rigor and theoretical grounding, academic research and by playing a critical role in helping policymakers understand issues on which they are working or should consider.

Policymakers are purposeful consumers, and research is valuable to the policymaking process. Academic researchers should be empowered to disseminate their work, and colleges and universities should encourage faculty in these efforts. While the challenges of connecting research to policy may be greater than ever before, so is the importance of continued efforts to overcome these challenges.