Attitudes About Importance Of Faculty Research

ATTITUDES ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF FACULTY RESEARCH 1. A university should have the right to require individual professors to participate in research. 2. 2.Universities often place too much importance on an instructor's teaching ability and too little importance on his/her research activities. 3. 3. Professors who conduct research are usually also the best classroom teachers. 4. 4. Participation in research should be a necessary requirement for a university professor. 5. 5. An instructor's ability to teach is more important than his/her ability to carryout research. 6. 6. It is NOT reasonable for a university to require its faculty members to carry out a specified amount of research. 7. 7. It is reasonable for a faculty member who is NOT involved in any research projects to be required to teach more courses per semester than a faculty who is participating in research activities. 8. 8. It is UNREASONABLE to assume that a professor who participates in many research projects is more valuable to his/her department than a professor who does not involve him or herself in research. 9. 9. In general, universities place too much emphasis on research and not enough on teaching ability. 10. 10. A professor who has an outstanding reputation as a teacher but does not participate in research should be able to advance just as rapidly as a professor of equal teaching ability who also conducts research. 11. 11. Professors who are frequently involved in research projects spend less time preparing for the course(s) they teach than do professors who have no interest in research. 12. 12. Level of involvement in research should be a matter of each professor's personal choice. 13. 13. It is REASONABLE for an otherwise well-qualified individual to be denied a faulty position because of his/her lack of interest in performing research. 14. 14. Professors heavily involved in research activities are less dedicated to their classroom teaching functions than other professors. 15. 15. It is reasonable for an otherwise well-qualified individual to be denied tenure because of his/her lack of interest in research activities. 16. 16. Even professors who prefer classroom teaching to performing research should be required to conduct research to keep their faculty positions. 17. 17. Professors who do NOT participate in research projects are usually LESS respected by their (undergraduate) students. 18. 18. Professors who do NOT involve themselves in research projects are more dedicated to their classroom teaching functions than are professors who DO participate in research activities. 19. 19. An instructor who excels at research is a greater asset to a university than an instructor who excels at classroom teaching. 20. 20. A professor who excels at classroom teaching but does little or no research is often less respected by his/her peers than a professor who excels at research and does little or no classroom teaching. 21. 21. It is reasonable for universities to place a higher value on a professor's research ability than on his/her teaching ability. 22. 22. Participation in research activities should be a requirement for faculty tenure. 23. 23. In the evaluation of applicants for a faculty position, research ability should be given a greater consideration than teaching ability. 24. 24. It is fair that a professor who is involved in research activities should receive larger salary increases than a professor of comparable rank and comparable teaching ability who does not participate in research. 25. 25. When a department places great emphasis on research, undergraduate education suffers. 26. ------Dennis Roberts, EdPsy, Penn State University208 Cedar Bldg., AC 814-863-2401, FAX 814-863-1002Email: [email protected]/WWW http://www2.ed.psu.edu/espse/staff/droberts/drober~1.htm