University Research Professorships
Terms of Reference and Conditions
(a) Memorial University of Newfoundland shall establish the position of University Research Professor.
(b) Appointments to the rank of University Research Professor shall be limited to those faculty members at the rank of full Professor who have demonstrated a consistently high level of scholarship and whose research is of truly international stature. The appointments shall honour the leading scholars in the faculty and are made to encourage even greater scholarly achievements. Candidates should have an academic record substantially superior to that required for promotion to Professor.
Faculty members holding chairs of special recognition have already been honoured in a similar way to University Research Professors and are thus excluded from this competition. Vice-Presidents, Deans, Directors of Schools, Vice President, Grenfell Campus, and the Executive Director of the Marine Institute are not eligible for nomination or application during their administrative terms.
(c) No more than two Research Professorships shall be awarded in any one year. Normally not more than ten Research Professorships will be current at any given time.
(d) The appointment shall be for a period of five years exclusive of any intervening period of approved leave. It is expected that the Research Professors will maintain the level of scholarship which was honoured by the appointment.
(e) The appointment shall carry no additional salary, but an unrestricted research grant will be provided by the President of up to $4,000 per year toward research expenses. The amount of this grant may be altered over the years to reflect changes in costs with approval of the Board of Regents.
(f) University Research Professors shall continue to engage in teaching duties but these will normally be reduced to allow more time for scholarly research.
(g) A selection committee, normally composed of seven persons, shall be established by the President to review nominations and applications, and to make recommendations to the President and the Board of Regents. The Committee shall be chaired by the Vice-President (Research).
(h) Nominations or applications for Research Professor may be made by any member of the University full-time faculty; and shall be sponsored by the nominator as well as by four other persons (internal or external) who are fully knowledgeable of the candidate's qualifications. In the case of applications, five sponsors are required.
The nomination or application shall consist of a review of the principal scholarly achievements, a full curriculum vitae, and at least five suggested referees. The Committee shall be free to use these or other referees in seeking national and international appraisal of the candidate's scholarly record and may seek any other opinion or advice as deemed appropriate. The nomination or application shall be accompanied by up to a maximum of five (5) selected works of the nominee or applicant. These will be returned at the end of the adjudication process. Nominations or applications should be submitted to the Vice-President (Research) by November 30th. Unsuccessful candidates will be reconsidered for one additional year.
In addition to the items noted in (h) above, a one-page citation describing the candidate's contribution in a way easily understandable to those outside the discipline should accompany the nomination or application. This will be used for public relations purposes for the successful candidates as well as for a reminder to referees of the candidate's major contributions. In recent years, we have sent the curriculum vitae to the referees. This is only practical if the curriculum vitae is not too lengthy, i.e., four or five pages plus a publication list.
