Re: Title for Principal Investigators Dolce, Peter J 31 Jan 2005 12:53 EST
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 ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================