{"id":1963,"date":"2020-12-18T09:07:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/?p=1963"},"modified":"2020-12-18T09:07:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:07:01","slug":"to-a-colleague-granted-a-faculty-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2020\/12\/to-a-colleague-granted-a-faculty-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"To a Colleague Granted a Faculty Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"

N<\/span>ineteen months ago, a gift to Darden from the Sands family<\/a> established 12 new faculty chairs, one of them named for me, a tremendous honor.\u00a0 It prompted me to reflect on why universities do this and what responsibilities those motives imply.\u00a0 Americans tend to harbor a distrust of elites and may find it hard to understand why universities create these grandees.\u00a0 There are at least two reasons:<\/p>\n

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  1. To reaffirm values and aspirations we hold in common, particularly the recognition of excellent work. <\/u>The appointees to faculty chairs help to signal to the rest of the community the dimensions of great performance.\u00a0 Setting high standards is crucially important to the success of any organization.\u00a0 For instance, the policy of the Provost of the University of Virginia states that:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u201cThe highest levels of performance, and national and international recognition of that performance, are inherent guidelines for appointment of a chair holder.\u00a0 The institutional expectation of unquestionable excellence means that the person is deemed to have achieved the highest stature and exemplary accomplishment in a discipline or area of research as judged by an independent assessment of his or her peers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    1. To recruit and retain top talent.<\/u> A leading business school is under constant threat of poaching by other schools.\u00a0 We invest a lot in developing our faculty members and want to retain them.\u00a0 A faculty chair is a good retention device.\u00a0 Also, doing unto others as they do unto us, we might want to recruit a star talent from another school; a faculty chair is a nice lure.\u00a0 Almost everywhere, faculty compensation is a painful subject.\u00a0 Where a school does not have the extra cash to acknowledge really good work, a nice title might help.[1]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      These motives are good as far as they go. \u00a0But they do little to shape the expectations of the new chair holder.\u00a0 Since a faculty chair is the ceiling of one\u2019s possible advancement in rank, the risk is that having arrived, the chair holder will start to coast professionally–this is the subject of merciless satire (see Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim<\/a><\/em>) and roasting criticism (see Charles J. Sykes, Profscam<\/a><\/em>).\u00a0 Thus, in my decade as Dean of the Darden School, I took some time with new chair holders to set some expectations.\u00a0 Here is the kind of message I conveyed.<\/p>\n

      \u201cCongratulations!\u00a0 Your appointment to this chair is a wonderful affirmation of your stature in the field and your work at Darden.\u00a0 Your colleagues, the Provost, President, and Board of Visitors of the University are pleased to acknowledge all you\u2019ve done.\u00a0 Go home and celebrate!\u00a0 And after you\u2019ve been able to catch your breath, let\u2019s have a conversation about your plans for the future.\u00a0 This honor carries some truths on which I would like you to reflect:<\/p>\n