Professorships and Academic Culture
While everyone like to be called a "Professor", and everyone who has done some teaching refer to themselves as "Professors", it is not really that simple.
Professors Vs. Other Teachers: What's the Difference?
There are others who teach, but are not professors. In North America, we have teaching assistants, instructors, tutors, lecturers who all fulfill teaching responsibilities but are really in supportive positions to professors.
On top of that, we have those that are in research positions in universities, whose primary roles are to assist in the research activities of a professor. These are known as research assistants, or research fellows (the latter's status is about equal to a professor but do not have primary teaching responsibilities).
To be a professor is to realize a calling in life - it is both a vocation and a profession. Professors are required to teach, conduct and supervise research, and to administer programs, counsel students, etc. Most students only see the teaching functions and often they wonder what is it that a professor does when he is not in the classroom. Often the professor is found in the lab (or something equivalent) or on other parts of the campus in management meetings with other administrators. In my university, these 3 tasks are roughly spread evenly as thirds, making up a honest week of work (and sometimes more - like this week where I will have spent 70 hours on grading and my regular duties).
The Making of a Professor
What does it take to become a professor? Hard and patient work. As I have indicated earlier, it takes at least 11 years to earn a doctorate after completing high school. Most of us take longer, particularly when inconvenient things like family and personal issues get in the way. We live from grant to grant, until we secure a tenure-stream faculty position. Often, and particularly these days, just a doctorate is not enough. There is often a 1-2 year post-doc fellowship period, again living off a meagre income derived from equally meagre grants.
Our first shot at a tenure-stream position (i.e. full time permanent professorial position) occurs about 12 years in the post-secondary system. If we are lucky, we get such a position. If not, we get contract teaching (i.e. as lecturers - better paying than fellowships, but no security beyond each contract). Contract teaching is truly the bane of a young academic's career, as research funding are almost never awarded to contract teachers and hence one's research career is severely retarded.
Assistant and Associate Professors
Those that are in tenure-stream positions are hired as Assistant Professors. The normal probation period for tenure is 5 years, as is the minimum wait period before one is allowed to apply for a promotion to Associate Professor. During this time, professors have performance benchmarks to meet, in the form of grant quotas and publication quotas. As newbie professors, we often piggy back onto other intermediate/senior faculty's grant applications and share (and most importantly learn) the spoils of the grant wars. If we can be on one or two successful teams a year or two, we are considered to have done well; as out of that can be two or three serious papers per year, on top of the papers for minor conferences. It is often expected of an Assistant Professor to have published anywhere between 10 to 20 peer-reviewed papers, and have been involved with about half a dozen sponsored research project. The value of the grants is less important at this stage, as it is very much a paper game at this point to gain promotion.
Once an Associate Professorship is gained, it is at least another 3 years before one is permitted to apply for a full professorship and this application is also subjected to available spots. Most wait a life time and retire as Associate Professors. During this intermediately-ranked period, we begin to spread our wings and mostly apply for our own grants to begin to set up a lab or a centre of research. Some field of studies require no research spaces, so a position (as editor/co-editor of a journal, director of a research program, conference chair) is critical. By this time, the aspiring professor will have to pull his own weight in terms of funding and are expected to gain at least enough money (likely in the $1/4 M. range over 2-3 years) to fund his own research activities, whether if it is a lab, a journal or a program. This is, like his assistant professorship years, in addition to teaching and administrative duties. The difference is the teaching activities are now based on outcomes of his research activities (i.e expert knowledge) and he should also be authoring chapters or books at this point. He will also be lead author or researcher on almost all of his papers. During this time, associate professors have similar performance benchmarks to meet, in the form of grant quotas ($1/4 to 1/2 M.) and publication quotas (10-12 papers). If all these go well, he would be well positioned to apply for (emphasis on apply, not received) full professorship: With about $1/2 M. of funded research, 20-30 papers to his credit, a couple of academic-activity titles (editor, conference chair, etc.) to his name and a full sabbatical undertaken. Very little time for much else, don't you think? Never mind thinking about owning a health product company, recording two CDs, hosting radio programs, writing magazines columns, running a medical clinic.
Professors
There are very few full professorships granted. The youngest legitimate full professor that I have met is 39 years old (a law professor). Most, however, are well into their 50s before they gain that stature. By this time, most full professors in the non-medical fields have passed their prime research life and will either settle into a senior administrator position (deans and higher), or continue to write or publish his findings in journals, conferences or author books. Those in the medical fields will supervise multiple labs and even centres, and will continue to be prolific in medical discoveries. Full professors generally do not teach, but they get invited to lecture or conduct seminars, as adjunct or visiting professors in other universities (normally abroad) to share and spread their knowledge.
Once a professor retires (either an associate or full), he gains the title of Emeritus Professor. If one only retired as a assistant professor, he is regarded as an under-achiever.
“Dr” Jessie Chung – Clarifications Please
So "Dr" Jessie, are you the Malaysian "Doogie Howser, MD"? And how did you gained a full professorship (Professor of Natural Medicinal Department / Professor in Natural Medical Department - which is it?) before your 40s?? I have only met one other individual who achieved this rank, and he is brighter than a headlight at midnight. Very few universities that I know of (and these are the accredited kinds) have such young full professors.
Give us some timelines, will you??? And the address of the university where you have a professorial appointment? I sure would like to see your name in print (err ... your self-published webpage does not count). Or have you retracted this as your secretaries made a typo??? Typos a plenty, aren't we?? Just a Lecturer in Psychology now, even though that is quite an accomplishment for someone with dubious credentials.
Please do enlightened us, "Prof. Dr." Jessie Chung. Do not be modest, please. We are "kah kee lung" after all.
How's my Chinese, Pierce? Okay, confession time - I know a Malaysian-borned and English-trained professor (of hematology) who has been following this saga. He taught me these words of Chinese - he told me it means "someone of the same kin", right?
BTW, he also dismissed Jessie as a quack, but seems so much more less agitated about this than I am.
Professors Vs. Other Teachers: What's the Difference?
There are others who teach, but are not professors. In North America, we have teaching assistants, instructors, tutors, lecturers who all fulfill teaching responsibilities but are really in supportive positions to professors.
On top of that, we have those that are in research positions in universities, whose primary roles are to assist in the research activities of a professor. These are known as research assistants, or research fellows (the latter's status is about equal to a professor but do not have primary teaching responsibilities).
To be a professor is to realize a calling in life - it is both a vocation and a profession. Professors are required to teach, conduct and supervise research, and to administer programs, counsel students, etc. Most students only see the teaching functions and often they wonder what is it that a professor does when he is not in the classroom. Often the professor is found in the lab (or something equivalent) or on other parts of the campus in management meetings with other administrators. In my university, these 3 tasks are roughly spread evenly as thirds, making up a honest week of work (and sometimes more - like this week where I will have spent 70 hours on grading and my regular duties).
The Making of a Professor
What does it take to become a professor? Hard and patient work. As I have indicated earlier, it takes at least 11 years to earn a doctorate after completing high school. Most of us take longer, particularly when inconvenient things like family and personal issues get in the way. We live from grant to grant, until we secure a tenure-stream faculty position. Often, and particularly these days, just a doctorate is not enough. There is often a 1-2 year post-doc fellowship period, again living off a meagre income derived from equally meagre grants.
Our first shot at a tenure-stream position (i.e. full time permanent professorial position) occurs about 12 years in the post-secondary system. If we are lucky, we get such a position. If not, we get contract teaching (i.e. as lecturers - better paying than fellowships, but no security beyond each contract). Contract teaching is truly the bane of a young academic's career, as research funding are almost never awarded to contract teachers and hence one's research career is severely retarded.
Assistant and Associate Professors
Those that are in tenure-stream positions are hired as Assistant Professors. The normal probation period for tenure is 5 years, as is the minimum wait period before one is allowed to apply for a promotion to Associate Professor. During this time, professors have performance benchmarks to meet, in the form of grant quotas and publication quotas. As newbie professors, we often piggy back onto other intermediate/senior faculty's grant applications and share (and most importantly learn) the spoils of the grant wars. If we can be on one or two successful teams a year or two, we are considered to have done well; as out of that can be two or three serious papers per year, on top of the papers for minor conferences. It is often expected of an Assistant Professor to have published anywhere between 10 to 20 peer-reviewed papers, and have been involved with about half a dozen sponsored research project. The value of the grants is less important at this stage, as it is very much a paper game at this point to gain promotion.
Once an Associate Professorship is gained, it is at least another 3 years before one is permitted to apply for a full professorship and this application is also subjected to available spots. Most wait a life time and retire as Associate Professors. During this intermediately-ranked period, we begin to spread our wings and mostly apply for our own grants to begin to set up a lab or a centre of research. Some field of studies require no research spaces, so a position (as editor/co-editor of a journal, director of a research program, conference chair) is critical. By this time, the aspiring professor will have to pull his own weight in terms of funding and are expected to gain at least enough money (likely in the $1/4 M. range over 2-3 years) to fund his own research activities, whether if it is a lab, a journal or a program. This is, like his assistant professorship years, in addition to teaching and administrative duties. The difference is the teaching activities are now based on outcomes of his research activities (i.e expert knowledge) and he should also be authoring chapters or books at this point. He will also be lead author or researcher on almost all of his papers. During this time, associate professors have similar performance benchmarks to meet, in the form of grant quotas ($1/4 to 1/2 M.) and publication quotas (10-12 papers). If all these go well, he would be well positioned to apply for (emphasis on apply, not received) full professorship: With about $1/2 M. of funded research, 20-30 papers to his credit, a couple of academic-activity titles (editor, conference chair, etc.) to his name and a full sabbatical undertaken. Very little time for much else, don't you think? Never mind thinking about owning a health product company, recording two CDs, hosting radio programs, writing magazines columns, running a medical clinic.
Professors
There are very few full professorships granted. The youngest legitimate full professor that I have met is 39 years old (a law professor). Most, however, are well into their 50s before they gain that stature. By this time, most full professors in the non-medical fields have passed their prime research life and will either settle into a senior administrator position (deans and higher), or continue to write or publish his findings in journals, conferences or author books. Those in the medical fields will supervise multiple labs and even centres, and will continue to be prolific in medical discoveries. Full professors generally do not teach, but they get invited to lecture or conduct seminars, as adjunct or visiting professors in other universities (normally abroad) to share and spread their knowledge.
Once a professor retires (either an associate or full), he gains the title of Emeritus Professor. If one only retired as a assistant professor, he is regarded as an under-achiever.
“Dr” Jessie Chung – Clarifications Please
So "Dr" Jessie, are you the Malaysian "Doogie Howser, MD"? And how did you gained a full professorship (Professor of Natural Medicinal Department / Professor in Natural Medical Department - which is it?) before your 40s?? I have only met one other individual who achieved this rank, and he is brighter than a headlight at midnight. Very few universities that I know of (and these are the accredited kinds) have such young full professors.
Give us some timelines, will you??? And the address of the university where you have a professorial appointment? I sure would like to see your name in print (err ... your self-published webpage does not count). Or have you retracted this as your secretaries made a typo??? Typos a plenty, aren't we?? Just a Lecturer in Psychology now, even though that is quite an accomplishment for someone with dubious credentials.
Please do enlightened us, "Prof. Dr." Jessie Chung. Do not be modest, please. We are "kah kee lung" after all.
How's my Chinese, Pierce? Okay, confession time - I know a Malaysian-borned and English-trained professor (of hematology) who has been following this saga. He taught me these words of Chinese - he told me it means "someone of the same kin", right?
BTW, he also dismissed Jessie as a quack, but seems so much more less agitated about this than I am.
posted by Q-Buster at 3:11 PM
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