Guest post by Caitlin Schleicher, ORCA, Director of Community & Partnerships
The Modernizing Academic Appointment & Advancement (MA3) Challenge has revealed a clear and growing appetite to rethink how academia in the United States rewards research, teaching, and service to better align with institutional values. With the announcement of the inaugural MA3 Challenge awardees, the research evaluation reform community has a powerful new signal: schools across the U.S. are not only ready to rethink academic incentives, they are actively designing and implementing alternatives.
A Clear Signal: U.S. Institutions are Ready for Change
When the Open Research Community Accelerator (ORCA) launched the MA3 Challenge in partnership with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Aspen Institute Science and Society program, the response from the community was striking:
- MA3 received over 200 expressions of interest and nearly 100 full proposals, reflecting both the urgency and breadth of interest in reform. The vast majority were high quality and envisioned creative approaches to modernizing hiring and evaluation processes, while also fostering a culture that supports values-aligned activities.
- About 70% of submissions came from large research-intensive universities, alongside strong representation from Minority Serving Institutions (30%) and teaching‑focused or less research‑intensive institutions (30%).
- Early interest was just as robust with the ORCA team engaging more than 300 individuals joining information sessions, signaling widespread interest in the Challenge and its goals.
The response from the community was particularly striking especially because the MA3 Challenge was designed to support institutions prepared to move beyond diagnosis and discussion and into concrete implementation of new assessment systems.
Learning Together: A Community Accelerating Change
Now, with the inaugural cohort underway, six universities are beginning to implement reforms to faculty hiring, evaluation, promotion, and tenure systems. As they move into the early stages of this work, they form a community of practice to share insights, troubleshoot challenges, and build models from which others can learn.
By the end of the two-year grant cycle, each will have implemented a modernized incentive system at their institutions. This community of practice will yield case studies and frameworks that will support change at other institutions, as the focus moves from ideation to implementation.
Keep Informed on What Comes Next for the MA3 Challenge
For those interested in following along, updates on the cohort’s progress, tools, and lessons learned will be shared over time on the MA3 Challenge website.
The organizers would like to thank the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Dana Foundation, the Rita Allen Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who have contributed $1.5 million dollars, collectively, for supporting this Challenge.