Handbook of Academic Titles

Handbook of Academic Titles by Michael I. Shamos, Ph.D., J.D. Distinguished Career Professor School of Computer Science Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Visiting Professor, The University of Hong Kong [email protected] There are over 3,300 accredited colleges and universities in the United States. These institutions have conferred on their academic faculties and staff a bewildering array of titles and designations. The titles can be confusing and their significance is often misunderstood. Some titles imply that the holder has tenure, while others do not. Some suggest a concentration in research rather than teaching, while others convey that the incumbent is primarily engaged in activities outside of an academic institution. In addition, a menagerie of prefixes and modifiers are used to indicate rank and other status information. Adding to the complexity of the problem is the fact that the same title may have different meanings at different institutions. The purpose of this handbook is to provide a thorough glossary explaining the significance of most titles in use in the United States today. Copyright © 2011 Michael I. Shamos Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................... 2 Academic Titles and Related Terminology ............................................................ 5 Title Prefixes and Suffixes ................................................................................ 176 Faculties ........................................................................................................... 178 Series ................................................................................................................ 180 Institutional Index .............................................................................................. 187 Introduction "What's in a name! that which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet;/So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,/Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title." When Shakespeare wrote those words he surely did not have professors in mind, for in academia titles are the coin of the realm. This is literally so, since many a professor has been lured or retained, in lieu of a salary increase, by the promise of a more exalted title. It is not clear, given the proliferation of such titles in the US, precisely what status each one denotes. More than 800 are described in this book, along with prescriptions for generating thousands more. An "academic title," broadly, is a designation given to individuals who "engage in teaching of credit courses, academic research, or professional library service." (Oakland U.) Generally a title is relied on to convey three attributes of its holder: rank (level of appointment), status (Regular Faculty or otherwise) and function (Teaching, Clinical, Research, etc.) The title may also carry an Honorific, such as "Distinguished," as mark of special recognition. This much was recognized by W. S. Gilbert in referring to The Mikado's Lord High Executioner as "a personage of noble rank and title," making it clear that rank and title are different. "Lord" conveys nobility; "High" specifies rank; "Executioner" defines function. While this trichotomy is fairly logical, there is much confusion in practice between the concepts of "title" and "rank." “Title” ought to mean no more than the name by which an academic position is known, e.g. "Associate Professor of the Practice of Surgery." But such a statement is too simplistic; one must consider the distinctions among “Official Title,” “Working Title,” and “Functional Title.” “Rank” refers to the holder's position in an ordered promotion sequence known as a “Series.” The fundamental Series in US institutions is {Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor}, which are listed in order of increasing rank. Titles not in this Series almost always indicate a position equivalent in rank to a particular rank in the Series. For example, at Carnegie Mellon the title "Senior Research Scientist" indicates a nontenured position ("non-noble," one might say), a function of Scientist and a rank equivalent to Associate Professor. The variety of academic titles in use is impressively vast. Numerous unusual situations have arisen at different institutions that have spawned the creation of carefully crafted titles to deal with specialized circumstances. If your institution is trying to create a title to describe a particular position, it has probably already been devised elsewhere and you will find it in this Handbook. This work was motivated by an effort at my home institution, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, to rationalize its scheme of conferring academic titles. During my service on the Faculty Affairs Council, it became apparent that numerous titles were in use around the country that might describe Carnegie Mellon positions quite accurately, but they were unfamiliar to me and my colleagues. I therefore undertook to compile a reference that would be of general usefulness to the academic community. The entries in this handbook cover academic faculty and staff titles only. Administrative designations, such as Associate Dean, Provost, Department Head, Program Director and the like are omitted because they are frequently devised ad hoc and do not in any event indicate independent academic status. I have quoted liberally from position descriptions in college catalogs, faculty handbooks and web pages. My thanks go to the invariably anonymous authors of these materials. The institutions cited in the text, approximately 300 of them, are listed in an index at the end of this Handbook. The arrangement of entries is alphabetical by full academic title. Where a position description has been obtained from a specific institution, the name of the institution appears in parentheses in the entry. If there is no position definition, the name of at least one institution using the title appears at the end of the entry in brackets unless such an institution is mentioned in the entry. Occasionally titles are followed by roman numeral indicating grade within title, such as "Librarian IV." Such numerical designations are omitted here. There is of course some question as to what constitutes an academic title and how to draw the line between academic and administrative positions. The general rule used here is that positions subject to collective bargaining agreements involving the American Association of University Professors are regarded as academic. Combining titles with such prefixes as "adjunct," "emeritus," "visiting," etc. would lead to a combinatorial explosion in the size of the glossary. Therefore, such prefixes are normally explained only in general terms without enumerating each possible title. Cross-referenced terms are indicated using small capitals, e.g. "It is often unclear whether a FELLOW is a member of the FACULTY." At some institutions a virtually unlimited spectrum of titles is available by suffixing the name of a discipline to another faculty title. For example, Research Biologist, Research Chemist, Professor of German, etc., which can iterate through every possible discipline. It has neither been possible nor desirable to include all such titles, nor has it been feasible to enumerate every usage of every title at every institution. As always, the role of the lexicographer is to record terminology as it is actually used, not to impose rules or presume to set standards. In particular, this book should never be cited to support a claim that a particular usage is "wrong." In compiling this work the author examined approximately 1000 faculty handbooks and institutional by-laws. While that is a significant number, it represents fewer than one-third of accredited US institutions. Errors and omissions have necessarily occurred; therefore the author will be grateful to learn of any additions or corrections. Acknowledgements: Thanks are due to Carnegie Mellon University for providing the infrastructure (and freedom from academic politics) that permitted me to write this Handbook expeditiously, to the other institutions at which I have worked or studied, including Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, Vassar College, American University, Yale University and Duquesne University. Lastly, it was Prof. Quincy Adams Wagstaff of Huxley College who imbued me with the appropriate perspective on academic titles. Academic Titles and Related Terminology Above Scale A mechanism in the University of California System by which meritorious faculty may obtain higher rank and pay than the normal limits of their positions. "An academic appointee who advances beyond the highest Step in a SERIES is above scale." (U. Cal. San Diego) Sample usage: PROFESSOR ABOVE SCALE, SPECIALIST ABOVE SCALE. Sometimes considered the equivalent of DISTINGUISHED. See also OFF SCALE. Academic (generally) The prefix "Academic" generally indicates a non-tenured full-time or part-time position primarily in teaching and with only incidental research or patient-care responsibilities. See, e.g., ACADEMIC PROFESSOR. The range also includes ACADEMIC ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ACADEMIC ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, ACADEMIC INSTRUCTOR and ACADEMIC LECTURER. See also ACADEMIC APPOINTEE. Academic Administrator An individual "with either primary or secondary responsibility for the administration of the activities of a major academic unit (school/college) or program of the University System. An academic administrator

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