The College of Arts and Sciences has established a new title, that of Teaching Professor, to recognize the quality of instruction and leadership provided by current A&S faculty in lecturer and senior lecturer positions.
“The title of Teaching Professor offers a level of recognition that is well deserved for those committed to a career in teaching, advising and service to our academic mission,” said Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences. “It enables us to compete with peer institutions in recruiting and retaining top teaching faculty.”
In addition, the Sophie Washburn French Instructorship has been expanded, and is now the Sophie Washburn French Instructorship Award, an annual prize recognizing pedagogical excellence among Teaching Professors in the College. Two awards of $5,000 each will be given annually.
“I view the introduction of the new title as an honor, but also as the recognition of the fact that the faculty whose primary focus is on teaching are effectively engaged in research and scholarship and create the valuable intellectual product that contributes to the immense body of knowledge generated by our institution,” said Raissa V. Krivitsky, teaching professor in the Department of Comparative Literature.
Krivitsky also notes that the new title solves a “seemingly insignificant, but, in fact, persistently annoying situation when students don’t know how to address the non-tenure faculty in their day-to day verbal and written communications.”
The principal responsibility for faculty who hold Teaching Professor titles – Assistant Teaching Professor, Associate Teaching Professor, and Teaching Professor – are teaching, advising, and/or mentoring at the undergraduate and/or graduate level. Teaching Professors are also expected to demonstrate engagement through activities such as mentoring other teaching faculty, service on search committees, teaching faculty leadership roles, or the development and/or publication of curriculum materials.
While Teaching Professors are encouraged to engage with the research culture of the College, especially for purposes of keeping the curriculum up to date and of incorporating recent research results into their teaching as appropriate for the level of courses taught, neither research nor publishing are expected or required for appointment, reappointment, or promotion of Teaching Professors.
However, the change in title opens doors for teaching professors, noted Elliot Shapiro, teaching professor in the John S. Knight Writing in the Disciplines and director of the Writing in the Majors program. “Internally and externally there are applications for research funding that are restricted to faculty who have a ‘professor’ title. Those opportunities have been closed to anyone called a lecturer. Now they are more accessible,” Shapiro said.
“For me, and for the other RTE faculty in Arts and Sciences who have recently become teaching professors, the change in rank is a sign of respect,” said Shapiro. “And the professor title better represents what I actually do. The overwhelming majority of the classes I’ve taught at Cornell have been seminars. I can lecture as well as anyone, but I am a seminar leader and discussion facilitator by practice and inclination. When I teach, I don’t really lecture.”
