Educational Professor Vs Research Professor

An exposé into academic professorship and a ‘contrast' of the two major types of professorship.

The evolution of Academia: Interesting but unfortunately typical

“... academia has been entangled overtime with psycho-social factors that have proven to be the basis on which cultural contexts that drive academic evolution thrive"

Academia is a genre of human endeavors concerned with the collection, aggregation, assessment, documentation, transfer and immortalization of knowledge. The merriam-webster dictionary defines it in an oversimplified manner as the "life, community, or world of teachers, schools, and education".¹ The academy is known as an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning, research, or honorary membership, and academia has been defined as the global collection of professors and researchers at institutes of higher learning.

Academia like many other 'industries' has gone through periods of evolution over the years, a fact punctuated by the very welcome deviation from traditional, labor-intensive physical classrooms to the acclimation and adoption of technological advancements that have occurred over time in various ways. More effective modalities of knowledge-sharing now exist including the establishment of open universities, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), online peer-reviewed journals and virtual scientific conferences among others.²

Needless to say, academia has been entangled overtime with psycho-social factors that have proven to be the basis on which cultural contexts that drive academic evolution thrive. While it is desired that research be allowed to remain independent of socio-political interference, the quest for accountability among stakeholders make it impossible -maybe even undesirable from some standpoints- to not harness the proceeds of academia in understanding and providing insight that better social health.

A critical appraisal of the evolution and application of academia points to an important converging point; the all too familiar similarity between academia and literally every last endeavor human civilizations have ventured in. This brings us to another point of agreement among the numerous sufficiently documented endeavors; hierarchical structures.

Canadian clinical psychologist and lecturer, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson argues in his book; "12 rules of life"³ that hierarchies are a natural phenomenon, essentially imprinted in the DNA of living things ranging from primates to complex vertebrates. He explains this using the "lobster analogy" -which has by the way, drawn excessive criticism. Peterson substantiates his logic by first drawing comparisons between the nervous systems of humans and lobsters, based on the dependence of the lobster nervous system on serotonin, an important indoleamine neurotransmitter in both species, a fact further demonstrated by the response of lobsters and other aquatic species to antidepressants that act by selective serotonin re-uptake inhibition.⁴ Dr. Peterson then goes ahead to attribute behaviors that establish and reinforce hierarchies to the physiology of the nervous system. While this argument may not be very acceptable in some contexts, it is understood that hierarchies based on competence and contribution are in-fact important in some industries, including academia.

Academic hierarchical structures: what is obtainable in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, UK and Nigeria

There is no globally centralized hierarchical system in academia and various countries have different ways in which academicians are arranged in relation to one another. While some countries stratify academicians and place them in entry level positions immediately upon employment in an academic setting/institute, others operate a system where there are conditions to be met -after the security of an occupation in academia- requisite to the induction of such persons into the entry level positions. It is worthy of note that in countries that operate the former system, academic position obtained is typically revoked upon termination of employment while it is retained in the latter.

The system of academic titles in Australia for example is stratified into five levels ranging from level A (Tutor, Associate Lecturer or Research Associate) to level E (Professor). Applicants are required to exhibit attributes such as recognition, distinction, leadership in research as well as leadership in education and in designing the curriculum to qualify to receive the title of 'Professor’. Applicants are generally also required in the australian academic hierarchical system to have made outstanding contributions and be nationally or internationally recognized as scholars in their fields of specialization.⁵ A slightly lower professorship cadre is the title of an "associate professor" which in Australia, bears the same prerequisites as full professorship except associate professors need not have demonstrated leadership either in research or in education. In some cases, the title of a professor is conferred on stakeholders in academia after administrative appointments. This sometimes occurs despite the candidates possessing no significant academic degrees or research track records. Other titles in academia in Australia include "honorary or adjunct professor" which is conferred by universities on professorship candidates with whom they have non-employment relationships or arrangements. The emeritus professorship in this country is used to dignify professors that are no longer actively in service. They are typically required to have adequately contributed academically in the university prior to their retirement.

The academic hierarchy in New Zealand is in a lot of ways, similar to what is obtainable in Australia. The cadres range from lecturer to Associate professor, professor or distinguished professor. Australia also has a system of titles in place for research-only positions, a stratification that ranges from research associate (level A) to professor or senior principal research fellow (level E). Some australian states run academic systems with titles different from the national stipulations. All the systems are, however, harmonized under the defined levels such that academicians in research-only roles have titles equivalent to academicians in educational institutions. Administrative roles exist in academia in Australia and New Zealand as they do in many other countries and systems. These roles include the titular pro-chancellor and chancellor, others such as vice-chancellor, provost, deputy vice-chancellor, registrar, faculty deans and associate deans/subdeans.

In Canada, the hierarchy is a little more nuanced in that positions are generally divided into educational and research-only roles. Educational roles in faculty are further divided into tenured or tenure-track roles and non-tenured or contractually limited roles. Tenured roles carry a plethora of educational, research and administrative responsibilities and typically range from assistant professor to distinguished professor. A post doctoral candidate essentially becomes an assistant professor a few years after completing their PhDs provided that they have completed one or more post-doctoral fellowships. Upon becoming an assistant professor, there is a timeframe during which candidates are required to apply for associate professorship. There is a thorough review process that informs the university’s decision over whether or not an assistant professor should be promoted to associate professor. Associate professorship generally comes with tenure and by extension, a number of administrative responsibilities including sitting on faculty committees open only to tenured staff. In the event that the application to become an associate professor is rejected, the candidate is typically directed to leave the institution within a year. After becoming an associate professor, the candidate is at liberty to apply for full professorship. The review process is as rigorous as that done during promotion from assistant to associate professor. However, the job of the candidate is not hinged on this application. The full professor is the highest rank a professor can attain in this system and it carries with it additional administrative responsibilities including membership in committees open only to full professors. Non-tenured positions in canadian universities typically involve teaching undergraduate and graduate courses with little emphasis on research endeavors and administrative responsibilities. Some non-tenured staff are however referred to as professors in non-academic settings to distinguish them from high-school lectures. This doesn’t equate them with tenured professors. Contractually-limited positions include teaching streams where emphasis is laid on teaching and research streams where emphasis is laid on research work. Other academic positions in Canada include 'adjunct professor’, 'visiting professor’, 'graduate assistant/teaching assistant' and 'Research Professors’. Research professors in canadian academic institutions are usually not eligible for tenure while their ranks parallel tenured professors (research assistant professor, research associate professor and research full professor). They are usually obligated to carry out research and while they typically have no salary commitments from their institutions, they are paid by 'external funding sources’. Other research positions in canadian institutions include research fellows, senior research fellows, research associates, research supervisors and research assistants. Administrative positions in Canadian academic institutions include Dean, Associate Dean, Directors of administrative departments, Assistant directors of administrative departments, chairs of academic departments, graduate coordinators and undergraduate coordinators.⁶

The prevailing hierarchy of faculty positions in academic institutions in the United States range from distinguished/endowed professor (and other university-specific titles) to research associate, lecturer, visiting professor and other non-tenure track positions.⁷ The ascension of academicians through the professorship ranks (assistant professor to full professor) occurs in similar fashion to how the majority of canadian institutions operate. Failure to achieve tenure and promotion from assistant professorship to associate professorship leads to the termination of the candidate’s employment typically after a one-year non-renewable contract. Atypical professorship positions in the US include those that are usually encountered in applied fields such as 'Clinical Professor' or 'Professional Professor' both of which indicate relevant competence and skill rather than scholarly achievements. 'Teaching professor' is another of such positions. It is not limited to applied fields and it indicates educational -rather than research- track record. Research professors in institutions in the US have similar responsibilities with their counterparts in Canadian institutions. The position indicates full-time or part-time research obligations with few or no teaching responsibilities. Research professorships are usually funded by grants or fellowships and not the institution’s budget.⁷

Academic institutions in the United Kingdom run three academic career pathways, one focused on research,⁸ one on teaching and the third combines both teaching and research.⁹ Positions in the teaching and research pathway include Assistant Lecturer, Demonstrator, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor. Positions in the research career pathway typically include Postgraduate Researcher or Doctoral Researcher, Research assistant, Research Associate, Reader, Senior Researcher or Independent Researcher, Professor and Research Professor. Again, Research Professorship in these institutions are typically grant or fellowship funded and a Research Professor charged with overseeing a research institute is otherwise referred to as a "Director of Research".⁸ Academicians on the teaching career pathway in the UK are usually subjected to the hierarchical system that includes positions like teaching associate, teaching fellow, senior teaching fellow and professorial teaching fellow. Emeritus ranks exist in this system for Fellows, Senior fellows, readers and Professors. Honorary/visitation ranks are also reserved for academicians on temporary arrangements with the institutions. The academic hierarchical system adopted in the United Kingdom is similar to what is obtainable in many other commonwealth countries. Also, the academic positions in this system compare with those in the system adopted in academic institutions in the United States of America. Professor or chair in the commonwealth system for example is comparable with the Distinguished Professor title in the US, Reader in the commonwealth system compares with Professor in the US, Senior Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer/Demonstrator in the commonwealth system with Associate Professor, Assistant Professor and Research Associate, Lecturer or Instructor in the US respectively. It is worthy of note that not all universities in the United Kingdom religiously adopt this system. Oxford university for example, adopts a system in the research and teaching career pathway specific to it.⁹ Administrative ranks in academic institutions in the United Kingdom varies among countries also. Scotland for example has the titles 'Principal' and 'Vice Principal' in place of 'Vice Chancellor' and 'Deputy Vice Chancellor' as it appears in institutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Academic institutions in Nigeria adopt hierarchical systems similar to that in institutions in the United Kingdom. Educational academicians generally fall into one of a number of positions including Graduate Assistant, Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer I, Lecturer II, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor/Reader, Professor and Emeritus Professor. Academicians on the research pathway are recognized for their higher predisposition to research as against their counterparts on the educational pathway. Positions available for researchers include Research Assistants, Junior Research Fellows, Research Fellows, Senior Research Fellows, Associate Professors and Research Professors. Other positions like Adjunct Professor, Visiting Professor, Research Consultant and Contract Lecturers also exist in the Nigerian academic climate. Research professors are mostly found employed in research institutes and the position confers a number of administrative responsibilities. Administrative positions that exist in Nigerian academic institutions include Pro-chancellor, Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Deans of faculties / Provosts, Subdeans, Heads of Departments and Departmental Directors of Studies.

This brief expose on hierarchical systems in academia globally with some examples introduces a proper basis for approaching the comparison between Professors (University professors / Educational Professors) and Research Professors.

Research vs University Professorship: What should be.

“... the most fundamental point of contrasting University/Educational Professors and Research Professors in this submission should be 'interest’."

An awareness of the vast dissimilarities among various hierarchical systems existing in various institutions in the world makes it difficult to accept the over-simplified widely accepted position that "a Research Professor is what a university professor aspires to be". While it may be true that Professors whose research endeavors are considered particularly valuable to their institutions typically get relieved of the bulk of their teaching responsibilities (hence becoming 'research professors’), this approach simply keys into the erroneous placement of research and educational professorship in a simplistic linear timeframe, a phenomenon that has further aggravated issues with knowledge exploration and the evolution of curricula in modern academic institutions.

Careful not to reinforce inaccurate stereotypes established in popular culture about professors and professorship, Professor Michel Clasquin-Johnson inadvertently contributed in his inaugural address¹⁰ to the subtle stereotypic portrayal of a professor as an autistic self-consumed adult struggling to meet up with classroom responsibilities, leaning heavily on departmental secretaries with regards to administrative duties, all the while removed completely from the immediate environment and metaphorically drowning in his/her research endeavors.

In light of the temptation to assume that all academicians that have attained the prestigious level of professorship are automatically research enthusiasts that would rather not teach -a notion reinforced by the erroneous belief that the ability to impact knowledge ranks higher than the possession of knowledge and lower than the ability to seek, shape and assess knowledge- it is important to take a cue from what academic hierarchical systems have evolved into and consider the standpoint that professors like all other academicians are first, humans with various interests, some more vested in research and others more in tutorship.

Consequently, the most fundamental point of contrasting University/Educational Professors and Research Professors in this submission should be 'interest’. A phenomenon that determines the kind of endeavors professorship candidates undertake, the skills they acquire and how best they can be utilized. The need to constantly update educational material necessitates the application of basic psychological concepts, the abolishment of prevalent shoehorning of Professors into diverse interdependent roles and a more nuanced approach to the stratification of professors and a commensurate allocation of responsibilities. Such that Educational Professors that are best suited to tutorship are not judged based on Research track record and Research Professors are not strong-armed into taking up tutorship or/and administrative roles.

Systemically, a number of differences exist between the typical Educational Professor and the Research Professor. Again, these differences like the systems that have been examined are not rigid and must be viewed in the context of the systems that have been adopted at each institution and country under review.

While Educational Professors are generally required to contribute to the development and application of curricula within a rigid framework,¹⁰ Research Professors generally are obligated to produce as well as curate Research.

A professor of mathematics himself, Walter Noll accurately captures this point of comparison in his 1992 (1997-reviewed) unpublished essay "The role of the Professor" in which he writes; "The teacher’s focus is on his students. His task is to convey a fixed body of knowledge to his students and to worry about the best way to do so. He normally follows a textbook and a "syllabus". The (educational) professor’s focus is on his subject. He "lives" his subject and cannot easily switch it off, even while lying in bed awake or on vacation. He recreates the subject in his mind each time he lectures on it. He cannot know, in the beginning of a course, exactly how and in what order he will present the material. The researcher’s focus is on the discovery of new results. He is the creator of new knowledge. His nightmare is to get stuck in his search or to learn that what he has found has already been discovered shortly before by somebody else. Priority is very important to him and will sometimes induce him to rush into print prematurely. The (research) professor’s focus, on the other hand, is on understanding, gaining insight into, judging the significance of, and organizing old knowledge. He is happy if he can find a new conceptual framework with which to unify and simplify the results that have been found by the researcher. Before going into print, he lets his ideas ripen. Priority is not an issue for him".¹¹

Another (perhaps less important) difference between the typical educational professor and the research professor is found in the contractual terms that bind both to their respective employers. It is observed that while educational researchers are usually placed on salary schemes in tandem with the legislative frameworks in play in the various academic institutions and countries, research professors are mostly funded by external bodies through grants and fellowships, a dissimilarity that provides appropriate incentive for efficiency in both academic roles.

In conclusion

“…it is imperative that positions such as educational professorship and research professorship including the roles that lead up to them are viewed in a complementary rather than a contrasting light"

In conclusion, it is imperative that positions such as educational professorship and research professorship including the roles that lead up to them are viewed in a complementary rather than a contrasting light. The endeavors of academicians that drive innovation should not be subverted for superficial reasons and existing hierarchical frameworks should be fortified to harness the skills and competencies of educational and research-inclined academicians generally.

References

1. Merriam-webster.com [internet] Merriam-Webster Dictionary-Academia. [cited 2021 April 13]. Available from: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/academia
2. Ludell J. Research vs. Teaching: Why the University System is Failing. 2018 July 6 [cited 2021 April 13]. In: Eazl blog [internet]. Available from: httpss://eazlblog.com/2018/07/06/research-vs-teaching/
3. Peterson JB. 12 rules for life: An antidote to chaos. Random House Canada; 2018 Jan 23. Available from: https://www.academia.edu/download/57884416/Extract_12_Rules_for_Life.pdf
4. Fong PP. Antidepressants in aquatic organisms: a wide range of effects; 2001.
5. Anu.edu.au. [internet] Australian National University [updated 2020 July 6; cited 2021 April 14]. Available from: https://services.anu.edu.au/human-resources/enterprise-agreement
6. Utoronto.ca. [internet] University of Toronto [updated 2015 July 10; cited 2021 April 14]. Available from: https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-introduces-new-teaching-stream-professorial-ranks
7. Audette, Holly (2017-03-23). "Faculty Titles Dictionary - Non-Tenure Track Positions | Human Resources". Retrieved 2021-04-14
8. “Research career pathway" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2021-04-14
9. Oxford, University. "Academic posts at Oxford, Personnel Services site". Admin.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
10. Clasquin-Johnson M. What do you profess, professor? A few thoughts on professors past, present and future. Retrieved 2021-04-14
11. Walter N (1992). "The role of the professor". Retrieved 2021-04-14.