Promotion to Full Professor, Administrative Viscosity, Laying Golden Eggs

I am sure my viewpoint is parochial, having read about 800-1000 dossiers in all fields at all levels at one university, albeit with probably 10,000 reference letters from a very wide variety of institutions.

It has been suggested to me that promotion to full at research universities is more generous and varied than publishing in the strong journals and having a national reputation for excellence. Surely there are idiosyncratic cases, but I am thinking in terms of the norm that is followed.  I do know that in many universities there are enough long-time associate professors that their chairs, deans and provosts are trying to figure out how to restart the long-time associate professors' research careers. Keep in mind that every once in a while, a long-time associate professor lays a golden egg. Also, I believe that one of the consequences of being tenured and promoted to associate professor is that the university and departments now feel it is ok to put lots of service and administrative obligation upon them, what might be called administrative viscosity, diverting people from their research and teaching emphases. I realize that someone has to do the work. But maybe we can do less of it.

Also, my observations are restricted to research universities. Two lists below are conventional definitions, the AAU members, and the Carnegie classification. Of course, some or many faculty at these institutions have decreased their research activity, and faculty at institutions not listed here may well have very research-productive careers. Also, it is obvious that most departments at these universities cannot be in the top ten or top twenty, and most faculty cannot be among the top 50 in their field. We are a collective enterprise, with many people contributing to research and training the next generation of scholars. It has been argued (http://chronicle.com/article/We-Must-Stop-the-Avalanche-of/65890/ ) that much research disappears without a trace, and we need a focus on impact or contribution. And there have been systematic studies (among the Robert K. Merton researchers) of whether we really need all the research to make advances (I do not recall the conclusions or the source, just now.)

Martin

Assoc of Amer Universities by year of admissions

Columbia University	1900)
Cornell University	1900)
Harvard University	1900)
The Johns Hopkins University	1900)
Princeton University	1900)
Stanford University	1900)
University of California, Berkeley	1900)
The University of Chicago	1900)
University of Michigan	1900)
University of Pennsylvania	1900)
The University of Wisconsin-Madison	1900)
Yale University	1900)
University of Virginia	1904)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	1908)
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	1908)
University of Missouri-Columbia	1908)
Indiana University	1909)
The University of Iowa	1909)
The University of Kansas	1909)
The Ohio State University	1916)
Northwestern University	1917)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	1922)
Washington University in St. Louis	1923)
McGill University	1926)
University of Toronto	1926)
The University of Texas at Austin	1929)
Brown University	1933)
California Institute of Technology	1934)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1934)
Duke University	1938)
University of Rochester	1941)
New York University	1950)
University of Washington	1950)
Vanderbilt University	1950)
Iowa State University	1958)
The Pennsylvania State University	1958)
Purdue University	1958)
Tulane University	1958)
Michigan State University	1964)
University of Colorado Boulder	1966)
Case Western Reserve University	1969)
University of Maryland, College Park	1969)
University of Oregon	1969)
University of Southern California	1969)
University of California, Los Angeles	1974)
University of Pittsburgh	1974)
Carnegie Mellon University	1982)
University of California, San Diego	1982)
Brandeis University	1985)
Rice University	1985)
The University of Arizona	1985)
University of Florida	1985)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey	1989)
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York	1989)
Emory University	1995)
University of California, Santa Barbara	1995)
University of California, Davis	1996)
University of California, Irvine	1996)
Stony Brook University-State University of New York	2001)
Texas A&M University	2001)
Georgia Institute of Technology	2010)
Boston University	2012)

Carnegie Fdn Teaching: Research Universities, High Research

Doctorate-granting Universities. Includes institutions that awarded at least 20 research doctoral degrees during the update year (excluding doctoral-level degrees that qualify recipients for entry into professional practice, such as the JD, MD, PharmD, DPT, etc.). Excludes Special Focus Institutions and Tribal Colleges.

·         RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity)

·         RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity)

·         DRU: Doctoral/Research Universities

Arizona State University	Tempe, Arizona	Public
Boston University	Boston, Massachusetts	Private not-for-profit
Brandeis University	Waltham, Massachusetts	Private not-for-profit
Brown University	Providence, Rhode Island	Private not-for-profit
California Institute of Technology	Pasadena, California	Private not-for-profit
Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Private not-for-profit
Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland, Ohio	Private not-for-profit
Colorado State University	Fort Collins, Colorado	Public
Columbia University in the City of New York	New York, New York	Private not-for-profit
Cornell University	Ithaca, New York	Private not-for-profit
CUNY Graduate School and University Center	New York, New York	Public
Dartmouth College	Hanover, New Hampshire	Private not-for-profit
Duke University	Durham, North Carolina	Private not-for-profit
Emory University	Atlanta, Georgia	Private not-for-profit
Florida State University	Tallahassee, Florida	Public
George Washington University	Washington, District of Columbia	Private not-for-profit
Georgetown University	Washington, District of Columbia	Private not-for-profit
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	Atlanta, Georgia	Public
Georgia State University	Atlanta, Georgia	Public
Harvard University	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Private not-for-profit
Indiana University-Bloomington	Bloomington, Indiana	Public
Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	Public
Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore, Maryland	Private not-for-profit
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Public
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Private not-for-profit
Michigan State University	East Lansing, Michigan	Public
Mississippi State University	Mississippi State, Mississippi	Public
Montana State University	Bozeman, Montana	Public
New York University	New York, New York	Private not-for-profit
North Carolina State University at Raleigh	Raleigh, North Carolina	Public
North Dakota State University-Main Campus	Fargo, North Dakota	Public
Northwestern University	Evanston, Illinois	Private not-for-profit
Ohio State University-Main Campus	Columbus, Ohio	Public
Oregon State University	Corvallis, Oregon	Public
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	University Park, Pennsylvania	Public
Princeton University	Princeton, New Jersey	Private not-for-profit
Purdue University-Main Campus	West Lafayette, Indiana	Public
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Troy, New York	Private not-for-profit
Rice University	Houston, Texas	Private not-for-profit
Rockefeller University	New York, New York	Private not-for-profit
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	New Brunswick, New Jersey	Public
Stanford University	Stanford, California	Private not-for-profit
Stony Brook University	Stony Brook, New York	Public
SUNY at Albany	Albany, New York	Public
Texas A & M University	College Station, Texas	Public
The University of Tennessee	Knoxville, Tennessee	Public
The University of Texas at Austin	Austin, Texas	Public
Tufts University	Medford, Massachusetts	Private not-for-profit
Tulane University of Louisiana	New Orleans, Louisiana	Private not-for-profit
University at Buffalo	Buffalo, New York	Public
University of Alabama at Birmingham	Birmingham, Alabama	Public
University of Alabama in Huntsville	Huntsville, Alabama	Public
University of Arizona	Tucson, Arizona	Public
University of Arkansas	Fayetteville, Arkansas	Public
University of California-Berkeley	Berkeley, California	Public
University of California-Davis	Davis, California	Public
University of California-Irvine	Irvine, California	Public
University of California-Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	Public
University of California-Riverside	Riverside, California	Public
University of California-San Diego	La Jolla, California	Public
University of California-Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara, California	Public
University of California-Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz, California	Public
University of Central Florida	Orlando, Florida	Public
University of Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Private not-for-profit
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	Cincinnati, Ohio	Public
University of Colorado at Boulder	Boulder, Colorado	Public
University of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut	Public
University of Delaware	Newark, Delaware	Public
University of Florida	Gainesville, Florida	Public
University of Georgia	Athens, Georgia	Public
University of Hawaii at Manoa	Honolulu, Hawaii	Public
University of Houston	Houston, Texas	Public
University of Illinois at Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Public
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Champaign, Illinois	Public
University of Iowa	Iowa City, Iowa	Public
University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas	Public
University of Kentucky	Lexington, Kentucky	Public
University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	Public
University of Maryland-College Park	College Park, Maryland	Public
University of Massachusetts Amherst	Amherst, Massachusetts	Public
University of Miami	Coral Gables, Florida	Private not-for-profit
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Ann Arbor, Michigan	Public
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Public
University of Missouri-Columbia	Columbia, Missouri	Public
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Lincoln, Nebraska	Public
University of New Mexico-Main Campus	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Public
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	Public
University of Notre Dame	Notre Dame, Indiana	Private not-for-profit
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus	Norman, Oklahoma	Public
University of Oregon	Eugene, Oregon	Public
University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Private not-for-profit
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Public
University of Rochester	Rochester, New York	Private not-for-profit
University of South Carolina-Columbia	Columbia, South Carolina	Public
University of South Florida-Tampa	Tampa, Florida	Public
University of Southern California	Los Angeles, California	Private not-for-profit
University of Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	Public
University of Virginia-Main Campus	Charlottesville, Virginia	Public
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	Seattle, Washington	Public
University of Wisconsin-Madison	Madison, Wisconsin	Public
Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	Private not-for-profit
Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond, Virginia	Public
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Blacksburg, Virginia	Public
Washington State University	Pullman, Washington	Public
Washington University in St Louis	Saint Louis, Missouri	Private not-for-profit
Wayne State University	Detroit, Michigan	Public
Yale University	New Haven, Connecticut	Private not-for-profit
Yeshiva University	New York, New York	Private not-for-profit