Promotion to Full Professor: Moving Beyond Tenure and Associate Professorship

Abstract

Although there has been great discussion and numerous workshops on obtaining tenure and promotion to associate professor, there has been little exploration of the expectations regarding the next step—promotion to full professor. To fill this void, this study gathered information from full professors teaching in 33 US doctoral programs in criminology and criminal justice. Survey questions asked subjects to note what they believe are the most important criteria for promoting a candidate to full professor. The study found that journal articles were critical for promotion, while grants, publishing a book, and service were not. Furthermore, individual variables such as gender, degree field, prior work as a criminal justice practitioner, and the department context such as program rank, the percentage of women, and number of full professors had significant impacts on the ranking of a candidate’s contributions, and the recommendation for promotion. The findings and implications are discussed.

Notes

1. The term “professor” can carry with it numerous meanings with varying degrees of significance attached to it. For some institutions, it is a designated title for adjunct faculty, those in non-tenure track positions, and/or for who do not possess a Ph.D. in their chosen field. The term, as used in the present work, refers to its more traditional use, or the title given to an academic who advanced through the ranks from assistant to associate to full.

aThe top five programs included six schools as there was a tie for fifth place—University of Maryland, University of Albany, University of Cincinnati, University of Missouri, St Louis, University of California Irvine, and Pennsylvania State University.

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