Indeed, the candidate's own commentary is an extremely important part of the case for tenure. Moreover, a vibrant college community cannot exist without active engagement of faculty and staff members. When faculty members do their part, they serve as models for ways we want our students to behave after graduation. Service in the wider community has a similar purpose. Active engagement in workshops and seminars that help instructors become better teachers is also a form of service.
Service is the element that makes a college into a community.
Good answers to those questions usually mean that faculty members are meeting their service obligations. Untenured faculty members must budget their time. Normally, the service of the newest untenured faculty member should not equal that of the busiest associate and full professors. All of us need to do our fair share, but untenured instructors should balance their efforts so that teaching and professional development receive adequate attention, particularly during their earliest years on the faculty. Department coordinators and deans of the schools should be able to advise untenured colleagues about the best investment in service obligations.