Rotational Professorships

Three-Year Renewable Faculty Professorships. Rotational Professorships are awarded for a three-year term to faculty members of Rhodes College who are engaged in significant scholarly, research, or creative projects. Normally, such Professorships will be awarded to full time faculty members who are beyond the tenure review. Recipients of Professorships will receive up to $7,500 per year to fund the expenses associated with their projects.

Purpose and Appointment Criteria. The purpose of the Rotational Professorships is to support faculty scholarship, research, and creative activity. Therefore, only faculty members who show promise of producing work that will be evaluated positively by their peers will be appointed. Promise will be determined by a faculty member’s past performance as well as by an articulated plan for scholarship, research, or creative activity to be completed during the three year period of appointment to the Professorship.

Rotational Professorships may be renewed once only, for up to three additional years, should the faculty member be able to demonstrate both an on-going need for support and tangible results – for example, substantial completed, published, or exhibited work – stemming from activity undertaken during the first term in the Professorship. (In exceptional circumstances, continuation for a third term may be considered.)

Rotational Professors will be ineligible to apply for summer Faculty Development Endowment Grants. Normally, such Professors also will be ineligible to receive travel support from the standard faculty travel budget. Rotational Professors will, after the termination of their term, have one additional year to call upon any funds that may remain in their accounts, provided that these funds are used to cover legitimate research expenses associated with their projects.

Annual Reports. Holders of Rotational Professorships are required to submit a report of their project activities annually, by 1 October following each year in the Professorship, to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for Faculty Development. The two-page report should include a one-page statement of scholarly, research, or creative activity completed during the year, and a one-page overview of funds expended.

Nomination, Selection, and Renewal Procedures. When a Rotational Faculty Professorship becomes vacant, the Dean of the Faculty, normally in consultation with the relevant departmental Chair (or Chairs, if the Professorship is “divisional” rather than “departmental” in focus), will nominate a faculty member to fill the chair.

The nominated faculty member will submit to the Dean of the Faculty a current vita and a three-page proposal of the scholarly, research, or creative project (or projects) to be undertaken during the three-year term of the Professorship. This proposal will be forwarded for review to a specially empanelled “Council of Professors,” made up of five Professors (one Professor from each of the four divisions of the College and one “at-large” member). The Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for Faculty Development will convene this meeting and report the Council’s recommendation to the Dean of the Faculty.

In the case of a positive recommendation, the Dean of the Faculty will appoint the candidate to fill the Professorship for a three-year term. In the case of a negative recommendation, the Dean of the Faculty (normally also in consultation with the relevant departmental Chair or Chairs) will place another name in nomination. The “Council” will have the right (once only per candidate) to call for a revision of the proposal before arriving at a final recommendation. Should no other appropriate candidate be eligible, the Dean of the Faculty may decide not to fill the Professorship for the following academic year.

The “Council of Professors” additionally will evaluate applications for the renewal of Rotational Professorships and recommend either for or against renewal based on its assessment of the degree of success the candidate has had in his or her first term in the Professorship.

To summarize the procedure: the Dean of the Faculty (normally in consultation with relevant departmental chairpersons) has the responsibility of nominating and of appointing persons to hold Rotational Professorships. The “Council of Professors” has the responsibility of evaluating proposals from nominees (and from those seeking renewals) and of making a recommendation to the Dean of the Faculty.

Budgeting for Academic Chairs. Each Rotational Professor will receive up to $7,500 annually to be used for expenses associated with his or her research or creative activity. The funds will be deposited into an account from which the Professor may make withdrawals to cover his or her expenses. Appropriate documentation must be provided to substantiate claims against the expense account.

Fully Funded Three-Year Renewable Academic Chairs. Those Chairs which are fully funded with endowed funds will be filled following the procedures outlined above. When a Chair becomes fully funded, the Chair holder will receive $7,500 annually to be used for expenses associated with his or her research or creative activity, and the Dean of the Faculty’s budget will receive $17,500 annually to be used in support of the academic program within the division of the Chair.

Revised March 2003.
Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs.