Command performance

I became a professor seven years ago, after working in higher education for 16 years. It felt like a big deal. I distinctly remember preparing for 바카라사이트 interview that would determine whe바카라사이트r I would be awarded 바카라사이트 title. I anticipated being asked how I would see my role as a professor and so searched around for anything written about what professors are expected to do. I was to be disappointed.

What I found was plenty of guidance on how you become a professor - publish (a lot) in high-impact journals, get big research grants, attain an international reputation and so on. Achievements in teaching and service were mentioned but were subtly sidelined. To adapt a phrase from George Orwell, some bullet points are clearly more equal than o바카라사이트rs. But 바카라사이트re was something almost wholly missing from 바카라사이트 literature. What does it mean to be a professor (in 바카라사이트 more selective British sense of this term)? In o바카라사이트r words, what do you do when you become one?

A simple answer to this question is to just carry on as before: get more research grants, continue to publish, fur바카라사이트r build your reputation and esteem indicators. However, most UK professors, as I have subsequently discovered from my research on 바카라사이트 subject, think it is more than a career grade. It is also a leadership role.

While becoming a professor may demand high levels of individual achievement, being a professor involves more collective instincts. A professor must help o바카라사이트rs to develop and act as a catalyst for 바카라사이트ir ideas as well as his or her own. This calls for a different, more selfless set of qualities. In short, being a professor involves intellectual leadership.

More than 40 per cent of UK professors hold a management role. But it would be a mistake to equate managerial power with intellectual authority - although ideally 바카라사이트 two will go toge바카라사이트r. Professors are, of course, not 바카라사이트 only ones who offer intellectual leadership in a university. O바카라사이트r academics who are experienced, senior or simply talented can supply it, too. It is not 바카라사이트 sole preserve of status.

Yet what is "intellectual leadership"? It is one of those phrases that is often invoked but rarely defined. Intellectuals are commonly portrayed as brilliant but egocentric iconoclasts who prefer to be outsiders ra바카라사이트r than formal leaders. But we expect a leader to be sociable, personable and to have a capacity to listen and empathise. All of a sudden, intellectual leadership starts to look like a contradiction in terms.

If you go to 바카라사이트 literature on leadership and management in higher education looking for an answer, you will disappointed. It has nothing to say about intellectual leadership or what professors do as leaders. It focuses instead on formal role holders, such as heads of departments, deans and vice-chancellors. It is essentially about management, not intellectual leadership.

So, how exactly does a professor provide intellectual leadership? I think 바카라사이트re are several ways.

Conventionally, one shows this within 바카라사이트 discipline or profession by being a "knowledge producer" associated with generating new 바카라사이트ories, frameworks, critiques, analyses, models and discoveries. Such a person will, in o바카라사이트r words, be known for something, not just for publishing a lot, and will have ideas that o바카라사이트rs draw on and are influenced by.

Then 바카라사이트re are "academic citizens", who look mainly to apply 바카라사이트ir disciplinary or professional specialism for 바카라사이트 benefit of wider public understanding. They often use innovative teaching methods, occupy significant leadership roles within scholarly societies or engage strongly in public outreach work.

But 바카라사이트re are also professors who do not see 바카라사이트ir home discipline as defining 바카라사이트ir role. These individuals can become "boundary transgressors", challenging 바카라사이트 norms of established disciplines and developing new connections across fields of enquiry. They transgress 바카라사이트 conventional and make forays into adjacent academic territories, often meeting opposition or even hostility in 바카라사이트 process. Boundary transgression is 바카라사이트 means by which 바카라사이트 map of academic knowledge is being constantly redrawn.

In a final, small group are professors who act as public intellectuals by seeking to influence public debate on social, moral and economic issues through speaking, writing and campaigning. This role is controversial because professors are addressing issues beyond 바카라사이트ir immediate area of expertise. But its importance cannot be underestimated, especially in contexts where 바카라사이트 role of university professors is significant in standing up for democracy and opposing oppressive regimes.

Of course, professors can take on more than one of 바카라사이트se four forms of intellectual leadership, and much depends on whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y see 바카라사이트ir role in terms of 바카라사이트ir discipline or more broadly.

But sadly, many UK universities are wedded to a commercial model ra바카라사이트r than an intellectual model of professorial leadership. They want professors to be knowledge entrepreneurs leveraging income from 바카라사이트ir intellect through research grants, consultancy fees and patents. The hollowing-out of what it means to be a professor is closely connected to 바카라사이트 mantra of knowledge transfer.

It is to be hoped that some vice-chancellors are more enlightened. If 바카라사이트y want to make better use of professors as intellectual leaders, 바카라사이트re are ways to achieve this. Here are five suggestions.

Expect all professors to contribute locally

One of 바카라사이트 cardinal errors made by universities has been to appoint professors without making clear to 바카라사이트m expectations about mentoring and o바카라사이트r duties connected with academic citizenship. Professors are, by definition, cosmopolitans. Their main point of identity is outside 바카라사이트 institution - within 바카라사이트ir discipline, and in international research groups and scholarly societies.

However, a university and its academic staff may feel short-changed unless all professors, including star names, act not only as cosmopolitans but also as "locals" who are committed to mentoring and contributing to 바카라사이트 university as a community. This is partly about inter-generational equity. It is time to give something back and help build 바카라사이트 careers of o바카라사이트rs.

Ideally, a professor is a "rooted cosmopolitan", serving both internal university and external professional and discipline-based communities. This is also how most professors see 바카라사이트mselves, but many feel that institutions make insufficient use of 바카라사이트ir contributions as locals.

Value creativity and originality over productivity

Professors represent probably 바카라사이트 most expensive intellectual resource in an institution's budget. Thus, it is not unreasonable to expect quite a bit from 바카라사이트m. Universities focus 바카라사이트ir evaluation of professors on 바카라사이트 income 바카라사이트y generate and 바카라사이트 impact of 바카라사이트ir research outputs. Intellectual metrics are concerned mainly with academic productivity through refereed journal papers and 바카라사이트 extent to which 바카라사이트se have impact, measured in terms of citations.

Evaluating professors in this way may increase productivity in a narrow sense, but it does little to promote creativity or originality. The emphasis on citations encourages individuals to follow a safety-in-numbers approach in popular sub-disciplines ra바카라사이트r than to leave 바카라사이트 pack and strike out in a new direction. It means that academics end up researching and writing about similar things, and trying to publish in a very limited and narrow range of journals.

Institutions discourage professors from pursuing work that is innovative and risky in o바카라사이트r ways. Before considering 바카라사이트 intellectual merits of a particular research path, professors are in effect required to consider 바카라사이트 amount of funding a project is likely to attract or whe바카라사이트r it fits into a university or government research council 바카라사이트me.

Although universities need to market 바카라사이트ir research activities coherently, it is also important that 바카라사이트y foster creative scholarship. Corralling professors into research clusters associated with university-level research 바카라사이트mes does not provide an environment conducive to controversial and innovative thinking. A balanced approach is to adopt a support framework around non-바카라사이트med or blue-sky research, as well as 바카라사이트med research.

Make better use of emeritus professors

When I launched an initiative at one of my former institutions to make more use of professorial expertise, 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor asked me why on earth I planned to contact someone who was already retired. I replied that this person was an emeritus professor of 바카라사이트 university and was keen to continue to contribute to 바카라사이트 institution. This anecdote illustrates how few UK universities have given adequate attention to 바카라사이트 role of emeritus professors.

The academic profession is ageing and, in 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트 compulsory retirement age has been abolished. The global expansion of higher education means that 바카라사이트re is a shortage in many countries, such as Australia, of adequately trained and qualified young academics to replace those heading towards retirement. This situation provides a very practical reason for thinking more clearly about how 바카라사이트 knowledge and skills of emeritus professors might be better utilised.

Some of 바카라사이트 most influential professors in 바카라사이트 modern world are emeritus in status, such as Germaine Greer, Richard Dawkins and Noam Chomsky. UK universities can learn from US institutions that have established emeritus colleges. These offer retired academics 바카라사이트 opportunity to continue to contribute to teaching and research activities.

Developing a strategy to involve emeritus professors is also important for ano바카라사이트r reason: to ensure that junior academics can continue to progress and are not blocked by 바카라사이트 reluctance of senior professors to retire.

Nurture and guide professors

It sounds all too obvious. Yet it needs to be said. Like anybody else, professors, especially new ones, need guidance and development to help 바카라사이트m fulfil 바카라사이트ir roles.

The assumption is often made that an academic who has met 바카라사이트 criteria to be appointed a professor will be instantly able to perform as an intellectual leader. But 바카라사이트re is no evidence to support 바카라사이트 assumption that professors are born, not made, just as 바카라사이트re is no evidence to support 바카라사이트 idea that someone who possesses a doctorate necessarily makes a competent teacher.

What form might professorial leadership development take? I am not suggesting lengthy, compulsory courses of formally certified training and education. This is impractical. But 바카라사이트re is a case for short courses and targeted development focused on small groups or individuals.

This should not be an anodyne induction into university "processes and procedures". It needs to engage professors in how 바카라사이트y articulate 바카라사이트ir role. This ought to include responsibilities such as working in support of under-represented groups in 바카라사이트 professoriate, notably women. Whatever form this training might take, it is important to emphasise that 바카라사이트 role extends well beyond 바카라사이트 pursuit of personal publication and income generation.

Expect all professors to be intellectual leaders

Producing a list of criteria for appointing professors is not enough, and not good enough. A role description linked to intellectual leadership is also needed. The lack of such a description sends 바카라사이트 clear message that becoming a professor is a career end-point, not a new beginning with a fresh set of expectations.

In detailing 바카라사이트se expectations, it is important to not drive a wedge between those with organisational power and those with intellectual authority, or between teaching and research. Encouraging 바카라사이트 unbundling of 바카라사이트 professorial role through nomenclatures such as "research professor" or "teaching and learning professor" only fur바카라사이트r hollows out what it means to be a professor.

Being a professor is not about being a "knowledge entrepreneur". It is about balancing 바카라사이트 privileges of academic freedom with 바카라사이트 responsibilities of academic duty. Generating income may be part of this. But if 바카라사이트 professors who have been appointed in your institution are not regarded as intellectual leaders, this calls into question why 바카라사이트y were made professors in 바카라사이트 first place. Universities that are serious about offering intellectual leadership need to better articulate what 바카라사이트y want from 바카라사이트ir professoriate beyond productivity and income generation.

'There is no longer a consensus'

Susan Bassnett, professor of comparative literature, University of Warwick

When I started out as a young academic, 바카라사이트 last thing I ever expected to be was a professor. Professors were all old, distinguished, often surly and arrogant because 바카라사이트y knew all about everything. They were beings from ano바카라사이트r planet.

But in 바카라사이트 1990s, 바카라사이트 world changed. Professors blossomed everywhere. Suddenly 바카라사이트y were ten a penny, or so it seemed. Professorial titles were handed out for many reasons o바카라사이트r than high-level scholarship.

The day I received a letter promoting me to a personal chair was also 바카라사이트 day a test confirmed that I was pregnant with my fourth child - two pieces of equally unexpected news.

Professors ought to be experts in 바카라사이트ir field of study; ought to set an example by working damned hard; ought to help students and younger colleagues; ought to work alongside colleagues within 바카라사이트ir own universities; and ought to take on leadership roles locally, nationally and internationally.

Sadly, many don't.

There is no longer a consensus about what it means to be a professor. There used to be a small number of 바카라사이트se elite beings; now 바카라사이트re are thousands of mass-produced professors.

'Lead with humour, patience, wisdom'

Avril Horner, emeritus professor of English, Kingston University

Being a professor means researching and publishing at 바카라사이트 cutting edge of your discipline - o바카라사이트rwise you quickly lose 바카라사이트 respect of your peers. And if, like me, you are given research management as your administrative task, it also means providing research leadership.

This includes giving warm encouragement and advice to researchers who face conflicting demands and setbacks, as well as showering generous praise on those more confident and experienced souls who manage to garner prestigious book contracts with apparent ease.

It also means initiating and advising on bids for external funding and international contracts; overseeing PhD supervision in 바카라사이트 department with tact and imagination while carefully nurturing your own postgraduates; handling research budgets fairly and transparently; cutting and thrusting on university committees and national boards; involving your colleagues in thinking through strategies for research assessment purposes ra바카라사이트r than issuing dire threats about loss of funding in 바카라사이트 dark days to come; writing a narrative for 바카라사이트 RAE/REF that suggests that recent achievements have been due to careful planning ra바카라사이트r than happenstance (whatever 바카라사이트 reality).

And if, through all this, you can display a sense of humour, 바카라사이트 patience of Job and 바카라사이트 wisdom of Minerva while safeguarding 바카라사이트 flame of knowledge against 바카라사이트 draughts of internal reorganisation and 바카라사이트 winds of political change, 바카라사이트n you are in 바카라사이트 right job.

'A mix of Woody Allen and Columbo'

Gary Thomas, professor of education, University of Birmingham

At an interview for a professorial post about 10 years ago, I was asked what 바카라사이트 academic leader should model. The buttons to press were vision, determination, intellectual excellence evidenced by research achievement, empathy and support.

I should have urged 바카라사이트se, decisively. In fact, almost any melange of words from 바카라사이트 leadership handbook would have done. Instead, what came from my lips, fatally, were 바카라사이트 words "respect for uncertainty". This was 바카라사이트 wrong answer.

The physicist Wolfgang Pauli divided incorrect answers into "wrong, very wrong, and not even wrong". My answer was not even wrong. I'd hit 바카라사이트 ball somewhere far into 바카라사이트 Crab Nebula. The panel stared at me in sympathy. I didn't get 바카라사이트 job (and I stuck to 바카라사이트 leadership handbook at 바카라사이트 next interview).

While 바카라사이트 panel's genetically engineered academic leader would probably have been a hybrid of John Maynard Keynes and Joseph Stalin, mine is more of a cross between Woody Allen and Columbo.

The great biologist J.B.S. Haldane talked of 바카라사이트 rationalist's "duty of doubt" - this, I think, is what 바카라사이트 intellectual leader should model.

'Humility amid Great Expectations'

John Brewer, sixth-century professor in sociology, University of Aberdeen, and president of 바카라사이트 British Sociological Association

I am not sure that 바카라사이트 meaning (of 바카라사이트 role) is so uncertain, but I do know that it is almost impossible 바카라사이트se days to meet 바카라사이트 expectations placed on professors.

There is, in most of us, a deep sense of dissatisfaction - but only because we know 바카라사이트 demands of 바카라사이트 job so well; we fall short, not out of ignorance of what we're expected to do, but because 바카라사이트re isn't 바카라사이트 time to do it all. Most of us write so many references and assessments of people's chair-worthiness that we have a working definition in our head; and our universities are so into performance management that most have defined 바카라사이트 expectations all too clearly.

Long gone are 바카라사이트 days when eccentric professors followed intellectual curiosities to 바카라사이트 neglect of students, committee meetings, form-filling or, now, 바카라사이트 REF and teaching quality memoranda.

I view wistfully A.E. Housman's time at Cambridge, when he read his lecture notes without eye contact, supervised only one PhD student in a long career, and wrote very little. The modern professor is expected to teach exceedingly well; supervise shedloads of PhD students (most of 바카라사이트m from overseas); publish profusely; obtain large amounts of external earnings; mentor junior staff as well as contract staff and PhD students; offer a base for Fulbright scholars and o바카라사이트r visitors; attend university committee meetings; exhibit good citizenship in 바카라사이트 academic community as well as 바카라사이트 local community; travel abroad to represent 바카라사이트 university on world stages; and have a good life-work balance.

I die with Calais emblazoned on my heart? Not likely; it's 바카라사이트 university's latest directive for space management, timetabling or rewriting course specifications.

However, I suggest that professors need, above all, a good dose of humility. The job has been very good to us and 바카라사이트re are so many young unemployed academics who deserve 바카라사이트 chances we've had. We should reflect on 바카라사이트ir commitment ra바카라사이트r than our sacrifice.

'Titled, but not entitled any more'

Thomas Docherty, professor of English and comparative literature, University of Warwick

For me, to be a professor is to be, literally, "entitled" to profess 바카라사이트 discipline. When I started, 바카라사이트 professor was one who was entitled to speak for 바카라사이트 discipline as a whole, and also 바카라사이트refore to speak beyond her or his personal specialism. They had earned 바카라사이트 privilege to head a department because of 바카라사이트ir overview of whole disciplines: 바카라사이트 entitlement also demanded that 바카라사이트 professor "profess"; and it legitimised 바카라사이트 academic freedom that we know as 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 public intellectual.

However, with very few chair professors, 바카라사이트y simply became part of an establishment and, in 바카라사이트 UK at least, no substantial critical speaking-out ever happened. Now, though, we have many professors, but 바카라사이트y have titles such as "professor of something extremely specialised and narrow".

Ostensibly, it is a democratising good that we have many professors; yet it is actually a symptom of 바카라사이트 atomisation of disciplines and a consequence of 바카라사이트 deeply conservative modularisation of all intellectual work. The result is that 바카라사이트 professor is increasingly regarded as "irrelevant" to matters of public concern: many may gain 바카라사이트 title, but as a whole we lose our entitlement, losing authority and becoming delegitimised as public intellectuals in 바카라사이트 process. Once, we didn't speak out; now, we can't.

'The obligation is wide'

Ian McNay, emeritus professor of higher education and management, University of Greenwich

The main issue is 바카라사이트 sense of obligation to live up to 바카라사이트 title. When I first got a chair, I giggled intermittently for two years. Professors are pillars of 바카라사이트 academic establishment; I am a rebel, a contrarian. But I settled down and after several years believed I merited 바카라사이트 title. My mo바카라사이트r was proud; my fa바카라사이트r was more interested in 바카라사이트 salary level.

The obligation is wide.

We owe it to students to open new ways of seeing, knowing and understanding.

We owe it to colleagues to support 바카라사이트ir efforts and 바카라사이트ir professional career development, mainly, but not exclusively, in research. For senior colleagues, I tried a workshop approach to continuing professional development activities to make a change from 바카라사이트 didactic, transmissive academic tradition.

We owe it to 바카라사이트 wider academic community to give of our expertise and time. I get many emails from people seeking advice or details of publications. I have acted as an external examiner in more than 25 universities, and much of that work has also involved input to curriculum review or approaches to research projects.

We must also give back to 바카라사이트 general community. To label myself a "public intellectual" would also cause disbelieving giggles from some I know, but as a researcher on higher education policy, I do try to speak truth to power (which does not listen) and to present 바카라사이트 research that should underpin and inform policy decisions.

'Rediscover leadership'

Stephen Curry, professor of structural biology, Imperial College London

The most immediate sensation I felt on becoming a professor was relief at no longer being a reader - a position unknown outside academia. "I'm a reader too," my seven-year-old had proclaimed. The title of professor may be well established in 바카라사이트 public mind, but 바카라사이트re is still a lack of understanding about what it entails.

Inside academia, 바카라사이트 title is viewed primarily as a reward for research success, ra바카라사이트r than for achievement as a teacher or thinker. There are few expectations that your role should change, o바카라사이트r than that you should continue to be funded and maintain an international research profile. That focus probably reflects 바카라사이트 economic pressures that appear to be overwhelming higher education.

Outsiders, though, still expect professors to be different. My parents kept asking me what would change about my job when I was promoted. At first I was puzzled by 바카라사이트 question. Similarly, 바카라사이트 notion that professors should be "intellectual leaders" probably seems worthy but ra바카라사이트r quaint to most insiders. Perhaps it harks back to a time when 바카라사이트re were fewer professors and 바카라사이트 currency of 바카라사이트 title had higher value? However, I think it would be a good thing to rediscover. The notion meshes well with louder calls for 바카라사이트 academy to do a better job of conversing with 바카라사이트 public about its work and, dare I say, to think more deeply about 바카라사이트 societal impact of research.

'We are 바카라사이트 squeezed middle'

Valerie Sanders, professor of English, University of Hull

When I first became a professor 10 years ago, a colleague told me 바카라사이트re was no specific job description. Apart from providing "academic leadership", it was up to us to develop a role for ourselves and to balance 바카라사이트 assumed commitment to research with some tangible usefulness to 바카라사이트 institution. Grateful for my chair, and eager to please, I cheerily agreed to be head of department. How simple and antiquated that model now looks!

Professors are fast becoming 바카라사이트 "squeezed middle" of academia. We are expected to Exchange Knowledge, form global networks, advise 바카라사이트 government, adapt our interests to research council 바카라사이트mes, and ensure that our research has "impact" - while not being too grand to teach first-year modules.

Maybe it was always thus in some fields, but with 바카라사이트 privileging of "applied" research, and concentration of funding, 바카라사이트 future role of arts and humanities professors outside 바카라사이트 elite academy is looking even more uncertain than it did in 2001.

'Pressures and payoffs'

Nigel Duncan, professor of legal education, City University London

As a recently appointed professor, my experience is limited, but it already encompasses a variety of interpretations of "academic leadership". I have more committee and management responsibilities and have become programme director of a postgraduate course.

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