Oklahoma State University

10/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/08/2024 15:50

How Research Moves: Who comprises the research community at a university

How Research Moves: Who comprises the research community at a university?

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Media Contact: Sydney Trainor | Communications and Media Relations Specialist | 405-744-9782 | [email protected]

In recent issues of OSU Research Matters, the "How Research Moves" section clarified how university research gets funded, as well as explaining the differences in research and who they affect. In this installment, I will describe the different types of employees and student workers charged with conducting research.

For some employees, the job is all research, all the time. For others, research is one part of a multifaceted set of responsibilities. For those remaining, the research job is undertaken as part of an academic degree program. I'll cover them all here.

The most common type of researchers at comprehensive universities such as Oklahoma State University are employed as Tenure-line- sometimes called Tenure-track- Faculty. The ranked titles for tenure-line faculty are Assistant Professor - junior or entry-level, - Associate Professor - mid-career, - and Professor - or "Full Professor" for senior, highly accomplished faculty. Job responsibilities of tenure-line faculty almost always include a combination of (1) teaching classes of students, (2) conducting and publishing research, and (3) serving the university/professional community - via administrative leadership - or the broader community - through outreach or Extension.

In this context, the term "tenure" refers to the conferral of permanent faculty status to those who successfully complete a probationary period by demonstrating excellence across these three responsibility domains over time. Although there are exceptions, the general rule is that faculty are granted tenure when they are promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor. At universities such as OSU, tenure-line faculty form the backbone of the academic enterprise … developing and overseeing the curriculum in their respective disciplines, planning and teaching the classes, conducting original research, and - through publishing their research and mentoring students - undergraduate, graduate, or both - preparing the next generation of experts in their fields.

Because complex research problems - and researchers' individual preferences - seem to call for at least some employees who specialize almost exclusively in research, additional job types have evolved over time. The first of this sort are generally called Research Faculty.These employees are tasked to conduct research as the vast majority of their responsibilities; as faculty, they are usually attached to a specific academic unit and can be tasked to participate in specialized teaching and student training roles for a small portion of their portfolios. Although not eligible for tenure, research faculty are professional positions (they are not considered temporary or ad hoc), and - at OSU and many other universities - have their own career ladder with ranked titles mirroring that of tenure-line faculty: Research Assistant Professor, Research Associate Professor, and Research Professor.

Research Scientistsalso specialize in research, but they typically do so exclusively … with no teaching or student mentoring responsibilities in an academic unit. Thus, research scientists are staff, not faculty, employees at most universities, hired to carry out specific research projects determined by the director of a center or institute, or by the lead investigator of an extensive, externally funded research program.

Postdoctoral Fellows - commonly called Postdocs- are fully trained scholars with terminal degrees - typically Ph.D.s - who are employed within a research laboratory by a tenure-line faculty member to assist with ongoing projects - much like a research scientist would do - and advance their professional development. In addition to playing a critical role in the faculty member's ongoing research, postdocs also design and begin conducting original research, all the while amassing additional specialized research skills and accomplishments that will better enable them to obtain a permanent position (usually elsewhere) as an Assistant Professor, Assistant Research Professor, or researcher within an industry setting. The employment and training of postdocs is an excellent example of how top-tier universities integrate the teaching and research components of the institution's mission.

To succeed and sustain, any great research university must have talented and dedicated Graduate Research Assistants- or GRAs. GRAs are post-baccalaureate students who are enrolled in a master's or doctoral program and simultaneously employed - typically half-time - by a faculty member (often the student's primary mentor) to play a role in one or more ongoing research projects. GRAs develop critical skills and knowledge via their employment in a way that complements their graduate coursework and thesis/dissertation project.

Complex research programs, particularly those funded by large federal grants or corporate partnerships, rely on various additional employee types ranging from administrative support staff and lab technicians to project managers and procurement specialists. Specific job titles within the institution will vary, but this broad category of employees is often characterized simply as Research Staff. Research staff roles are filled sometimes by regular employees and sometimes by part-time undergraduate student workers; whether or not these undergraduates perform technical tasks related to their field of study, these jobs provide them exposure to the research environment while providing financial resources to continue their studies.

OSU's research enterprise is like a symphony orchestra comprised of many musicians - researchers of the various types described here, - divided into sections like percussion, brass and winds - our many research areas, - all coordinated and harmonizing under the baton of the maestro - our shared We Are Land-Grant strategy. As the vice president for research, it is truly music to my ears.

What is in a title? AKA: Does an Assistant Professor actually assist someone?

Much like the robes we wear at commencement ceremonies, the ranked titles of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor have their origins centuries ago in European academia. The term 'Professor' appears to have evolved in separate patterns in England and Scotland from the late 15th through the early 18th century, eventually supplanting terms such as praelector and regent. Referring to someone in print as an "Assistant Professor" goes back at least as far as 1801, in dictionary entries recounting titles putatively applied in the 1730s. However, these early entries offer no explanation of why the term assistant was utilized. One common conjecture is that junior professors were sometimes employed to conduct research and teach only at the direction of the singular senior professor (or 'Chair'). Perhaps some of these 'Assistant' professors progressed in their skills such that they were allowed more independent purview, but were still not equal to or above the professor; if so, that could actually account for the coining of the intermediate 'Associate' moniker... no longer merely assisting the professor, but still associated with the professor's realm of authority. In modern usage, these terms are merely linear ranks and bear no literal connection to the meanings of the terms assistant and associate. We could just easily call them Level 1, 2 and 3 professors. But of course, we could also conduct commencement ceremonies in cut-off shorts and UGG boots. Instead, we continue to wear our medieval robes and use our antiquated titles ... even as we evolve research universities to meet the needs of 21st century society.

Sources: When did the title 'professor' first start to be used?, University of Leeds Dictionaries of the Scots
Language The New Universal Biographical Dictionary, and American Remembrancer of Departed Merit, Vol. 4.

Story By: Dr. Kenneth Sewell | Research Matters Magazine