Pathways to Becoming a Full Professor: Guidelines for Associate Professors

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article offers some general guidelines to social work faculty seeking to be promoted to the rank of Full Professor, guidelines that we hope will provide a beginning discussion for individual programs to develop more transparent criteria and expectations for promotion to the highest rank in the academy. Specifically, we offer guidance about the types of accomplishments in the areas of scholarship, teaching and service that can enhance one’s chances of being successfully promoted. Although this paper and its guidance are not intended to be an exhaustive list of potential achievements, the benchmarks presented represent criteria that would be likely to appear in the promotion dossier of candidates for promotion to full professor at the most rigorous programs in social work. While each social work program’s internal and university-wide standards may vary from those we present, our benchmarks represent an initial discussion that social work program faculty and administrators may modify and build upon.