Professorial Framework

• The Position of Professor
• The Types of Professorial Appointments
• The Appointment Process
• Promotion to Professor

The Position of Professor

Brief Overview

Professors at Monash provide academic leadership in a number of ways including research and scholarship, teaching, leadership and management, and professional and community service. Teaching, learning, research and scholarship are the cornerstones of professorial achievement.

Monash firmly believes that an academic is only entitled to be appointed as a Professor if he/she can demonstrate that he/she has met the academic standards as established by the university.

The following table provides broad guidance as to when a person may be appointed as a Professor in normal circumstances.

This means that Monash will not appoint a person to a position of a professor unless the person can demonstrate outstanding research and/or outstanding teaching and above standard performance in the other categories.

* A person may also be appointed or promoted to Professor if he/she can demonstrate a record in research which is so exceptional that the person should be engaged predominantly for research purposes.

The Attributes Of A Professor In More Detail

A professor is able to demonstrate an outstanding academic leadership and performance in their discipline or profession. They will be considered to be a leader among their peers, having achieved an international reputation of a high standard as a researcher and scholar and by teaching at a high standard.

A candidate for professor will be able to provide evidence of outstanding contributions as an academic leader in a number of the areas including teaching and learning, scholarship and research, service to the discipline, university and broader community, and to demonstrate the impact and quality outcomes of these contributions. They will also be able to clearly articulate their future plans as an academic leader in terms of all portfolios and how these plans would advance the discipline, profession and/or faculty.

The outstanding contributions to the discipline, faculty or university will be across all categories however, exceptional performance in one may compensate for lesser achievement in another.

An academic who can demonstrate a record in research which is so exceptional that the person should be engaged predominantly for research purposes, may also be eligible to be appointed as, or promoted to, a professor. In the instance where research is so outstanding, the person will need only to demonstrate adequate contributions in the other areas of teaching, leadership and community service.

For more information refer to the Professor Policy.

The Types of Professorial Appointments

In simplifying the professorial framework, the university will have the following professorial positions:

• Professor (as a generic title, covering the variants of professor types, such as adjunct professor, conjoint professor, honorary professor, visiting professor, research professor and professor/director)
• Named Chair
• Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor
• Emeritus Professor
• Professorial Fellow

The university will cease using the title of "chair" other than for describing a chair that has been named pursuant to the Named Chair policy.

The university will use the title of "professor" for all academics who are appointed or promoted to a professorial position.

Each faculty will be able to award Named Chair positions to identify the most distinguished Professors within the faculty. The Named Chairs will only be awarded (to appointees inside or outside the university) for distinguished achievement in terms of the criteria set out in the Named Chair policy. The Chairs will be named after distinguished people who have excelled in the disciplines contained within the relevant faculty.

The university will award Sir John Monash Distinguished Professorships to the most distinguished professors of the university who meet the criteria set out in the Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor policy.

The position of Personal Chair will be phased out overtime. No further appointments will be made to Personal Chair. Existing Personal Chairs will retain their status and title as Personal Chairs.

Each faculty is also able to secure external funding for Sponsored Professorships. The Sponsored Professor policy sets out the terms and conditions upon which a Sponsored Professorship may be created and filled. In the normal course of events, only outstanding candidates (either appointed internally or externally) would be eligible to hold a Sponsored Professorship.

The Vice-Chancellor has the authority to award the title of professor to a person who left the university as a professor and has returned at a later date. In such an instance, the Faculty in which the person is to be appointed will be asked to make a submission to the Vice-Chancellor requesting that the title of "professor" be awarded to the former professor of the university. The Vice-Chancellor may approve the awarding of the title or, otherwise, refer the matter to the Special Professorial Appointments Committee for further consideration.

The Appointment Process

The appointment process has been simplified. There are now two main processes to appoint a professor, the first is used for an advertised position and the second is used for non-advertised appointments.

The revised processes highlight a greater role for the Special Professorial Appointments Committee. All professorial appointments and promotions, other than the standard advertised appointments, will be determined by the Special Professorial Appointments Committee.

The Vice-Chancellor has the authority to approve:

• proposals to establish and/or advertise a professorial position.
• the composition of the selection committee for the proposed appointment.
• the recommendation of the selection committee in relation to making of an offer of appointment to the preferred candidate.

Selection Committees

The selection committees for an advertised professorial position will consist of the following:

Note: The Vice-Chancellor or nominee would normally chair the selection committee.

The selection committee would, therefore, consist of 7 senior members for Australian appointments and 8 senior members for Gippsland and off-shore appointments.

Accelerated Appointment

The accelerated appointment to professor process has been removed. Where a highly regarded academic staff member has been offered a position at another university or relevant institution, and the university wishes to retain the staff member, or where the university would like to make an offer to an eminent academic from another university in order that we can be competitive in the recruitment process, the matter will be considered by an "out-of-session" Special Professorial Appointments Committee meeting. This will ensure that possible appointments are considered within the required timeframe.

Promotion to Professor

The university will introduce a promotion to professor policy in 2005. Please refer to the Academic Promotion website for more information.