Academic titles imply the other structures and traditions that come with
academic organizations, such as tenure. Anyone joining your
organization might reasonably expect such things to be in place; if you
don't have them you may be perceived as having academic form without
substance, existing employees may expect you to implement them a few
years down the road, etc. etc. If your institute's principal purpose
is to conduct research, the existing titles reflect that purpose more
accurately than "professor."
In general it seems to me that one type of organization should borrow
the vocabulary of another only with great caution. The notion that
students are "customers" instead of "students," for example, is fraught
with difficulty: the values, responsibilities and traditions that
accompany the terms are different. Another instance I saw recently was
a seminar on how to "market" your proposal to NIH. Your question
suggests you're thinking of just such issues: names carry baggage with
them.
A better approach is to borrow the concept but assign your own name, as
when industrial firms began establishing university-like committees on
the shop floor, but called them "quality circles." Don't know how this
applies to your situation, so off with the amateur sociology hat and
back to work! Good luck!
Peter J. Dolce, Ph.D., Director
Office of Research Support Services
Meharry Medical College
1005 D. B. Todd Boulevard
Nashville, TN 37208
Phone 615 327 6703
Fax 615 327 6716
-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
Behalf Of Brill, Linda
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 10:31 AM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] Title for Principal Investigators
Our senior management staff is contemplating changing the titles for our
Principal Investigators. Since we are strictly a research organization,
not an academic institution, traditionally the titles for our Principal
Investigators at our organization have been "Senior Investigator",
"Associate Investigator" or "Investigator". Our senior management is
contemplating changing titles of these individuals to "Professor" or
"Assistant Professor" since they have some teaching/training
responsibilities such as training medical residents, graduate students
and summer interns (approximately 10% for some PIs).
May I have the opinions of others on this subject? Do you see a problem
with this change in titles? Why or why not? Thank you in advance for
your replies.
Linda Brill, CPA, MBA
Associate Director of Finance
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
100 Lancaster Avenue
Wynnewood, PA 19096
610-645-2760
610-645-8299 (fax)
xxxxxx@mlhs.org
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