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Status and Hierarchy in Academia
Mar. 26th, 2024 07:03 pm A few weeks ago I was at a university in Canada on a classroom global initiative. It was flown premiere/first class, picked up by a driver, taken around to nice places and am receiving an excellent stipend for my work. It was a great experience and the first time I can honestly say I've been so wined and dined.
Today I had a follow up consult with them, discussed my final report and also shared ideas about the next speaker they should bring in to extend this program they are developing. I was a first step. I suggested two people, both of whom would be excellent and both of whom have more experience in the field than me: one is a full professor in Spain, the other is a senior-lecturer in the UK.
It looks like they are going with the full professor from Spain, who I think is a good choice for many reasons. But they acknowledged that one of the reasons has to do with rank. The rank of full professor carries much more status than senior lecturer and for a high level type of initiative like this, they want to bring in people with the highest ranks and a senior lecturer does not cut it.
Five years ago, when I moved to the US, I gave up my rank and stepped down from associate to assistant professor. It was a blow to my ego, but part of what I was struggling with was stuff just like this. Rank really does matter in academia and it was a blow to lose this status and know that this also meant lost opportunities that I would never know about (exactly like my senior-lecturer colleague will not know about). The pandemic slamming through and shutting things down no doubt softened the impact as nobody was being invited anywhere for a while and by the time things had opened up in 2021, I had applied for and earned promotion back to associate professor at my new university.
My application to full professor is still under review, but I received a letter of supper from the Dean, so it is progressing. If all goes well, I will have a final decision by June and I really need to find a way to celebrate.
Today I had a follow up consult with them, discussed my final report and also shared ideas about the next speaker they should bring in to extend this program they are developing. I was a first step. I suggested two people, both of whom would be excellent and both of whom have more experience in the field than me: one is a full professor in Spain, the other is a senior-lecturer in the UK.
It looks like they are going with the full professor from Spain, who I think is a good choice for many reasons. But they acknowledged that one of the reasons has to do with rank. The rank of full professor carries much more status than senior lecturer and for a high level type of initiative like this, they want to bring in people with the highest ranks and a senior lecturer does not cut it.
Five years ago, when I moved to the US, I gave up my rank and stepped down from associate to assistant professor. It was a blow to my ego, but part of what I was struggling with was stuff just like this. Rank really does matter in academia and it was a blow to lose this status and know that this also meant lost opportunities that I would never know about (exactly like my senior-lecturer colleague will not know about). The pandemic slamming through and shutting things down no doubt softened the impact as nobody was being invited anywhere for a while and by the time things had opened up in 2021, I had applied for and earned promotion back to associate professor at my new university.
My application to full professor is still under review, but I received a letter of supper from the Dean, so it is progressing. If all goes well, I will have a final decision by June and I really need to find a way to celebrate.
