What is the advantage of becoming a full professor if you are already an associate professor with tenure? Why not just stay an associate professor for life? What is the key difference between an associate professor and a full professor?
Why continue to write papers if you already have tenure? Can't a tenured associate professor stop writing papers and still have a job?
Why continue to write papers if you already have tenure? Can't a tenured associate professor not write papers and still have a job?
The general answer is simple: most of the people who would quit doing research after tenure in fact quit before tenure. The ones who make it to tenure generally care about research and intend to continue at it for a long time.
In more detail:
Reaching an associate professor position in a research university is a long journey. At this stage you could stop writing papers and lead a comfortable life, if you were willing to live with the disapproval of your department chair (which is not an easy thing: there are many ways they can make your life unpleasant even if they can't fire you). However, if that's all you wanted, you could have had it with much less effort along the way. By the time you reach tenure, you have let many opportunities to change your career go by, and you have repeatedly passed through filters intended to measure your talent and ambition. This selection process means tenured professors at research universities generally really want to do research. Now, sometimes people change their minds or burn out, and a few might never have intended to maintain their research programs. However, on the whole this is a group that has been selected for research enthusiasm and ambition, so it's no surprise that on average they maintain the desire to do research.
One key difference is that full professors are paid more.
"Why continue to write papers if you already have tenure?"
Because it is fun?
While some academics forge a rewarding career from teaching and administration, for most academics research is what provides a substantial part of their job satisfaction. If research is not something you actively want to do, academia might not be a good career path, especially not being a senior academic.
Yet another reason to seek promotion to full professor is political influence. Especially in larger/older departments and universities, administrative positions (department chair, dean, etc.) and membership in influential committees may be restricted to full professors. (For example, in my department, only full professors may serve on the promotions and tenure committee; similar restrictions apply to college- and campus-level committees.)
This is the flip side of the service expectation that Ben Norris mentions.
In the Netherlands, you need to be a full professor before you can be the main supervisor (promotor) of a PhD student. Otherwise you can only be a co-supervisor (co-promotor), and thereby miss out on all the credit.
I am a tenured associate professor in 'hard science' at a major research institution (part of that cluster famous for the Ivy on the walls). I've been an associate professor for ~5 years.
Fairly recently, my chair asked about timetable for promotion. Said Chair fell to the floor (almost) when I replied "I could care squat about promotion to full professor". Seriously - who cares? There are two motivations I can think of for wanting promotion. (1) money, and/or (2) ego. I get paid more than enough in my current position, thank you very much, and anyone who thinks a different academic title means anything to anyone (other than their own inner ego) is delusional.
I'm an associate professor. I write 3-4 good solid papers a year (have about 60-70 so far, 2 books, and a bunch of book chapters), do my share of teaching, edit for a couple of journals, get grants when I feel like it, and supervise students if they're good and I feel like it. I shift research gears with some frequency, pursuing what interests me. I go to meetings if I feel like it, not as a career move. That, of course, is the point of tenure. I do what I want, more or less.
The university system is predicated on people striving for promotion, for 2 reasons. One, the bean counters and political types in the university administration understand that outside of academics, like government agencies, alumni groups, and other folks who might have $$$ to give to the school, title carries gravitas. A lot of universities make a big deal out of the number of 'full professors'. Second, and more to the point, they want the lure of promotion to keep you active - not at anything as trivial as 'intellectual work', but...getting grants. Pure and simple. Without overhead off major grants, universities would crash and burn - so, how do you keep everyone motivated to keep playing the grant game? Hold out the lure of the 'perks' of being a full professor.
Problem is, the system doesn't account for people who could care less about money, or title. People who publish just fine without a lot of $$$ rolling in. People like me. I'm doing what I want to do now. I loathe administrative assignments, and if doing them is a necessary step on the road to 'full' title, I'll pass.
One could say that a full professor has a more prominent position in its department, but that is somehow more trouble (e.g. you can have to be chair) than entertainment.
I would say that the real point is that becoming a full professor is a recognition of your qualities.
never mind-- I'll just give you one. The answer is that, for many faculty, it is not necessary to become a full professor. There are distinct advantages to doing so, however: 1) salary. If you remain an associate professor, salary generally will not go up any more, whereas if you become full, you will get a substantial pay increase, and will probably be eligible for future merit based pay increases. If you remain associate, this will not happen, so salary will actually go down relative to inflation; 2) service: associate professors have a harder life than is usually imagined. They actually get the worst, most onerous service tasks, because assistant professors are usually shielded from these, and full professors can opt out of them, and get more interesting service work. This is especially true at research universities. Running the graduate program is almost always an associate professor's job, and it's a ton of work. Full professors have more freedom more salary; 3) Status and prestige, leading to other opportunities: There is a stigma attached to staying associate for too long. It may seem petty, but one's colleagues are a little like siblings-- you are with them for life, and you see some rise up quick and others stay behind. There is often built up resentment and jealousy, and we are all only human. On a less petty level, there are certain prestigious, well paying fellowships and other positions that are easier to get if you are full (eg., editing a prestigious journal or being president of your discipline's scholarly organization or running a search committee and determining who your department is going to hire). Finally, at some institutions, if you do not continue to advance, you will not be fired, but you can be demoted away from the position you have to a more teaching-based job. You will teach more undergrad classes (and more classes overall), and may not be able to advise grad students or perhaps even teach grad classes. Again, this varies from institution to institution. The pressure is greater at prestigious research universities rather than liberal arts colleges
The difference is often also that full professors have their own group or department. Associate professors often have just a few PhDs and postdocs. So, getting full professorship is a means of really creating your own group of people, and direct them towards research that you think needs to be done. In that sense it is comparable to rising in the ranks of any ordinary company, you start as a business unit manager, and then go on to be CEO.
Agreeing with the answer provided by Noah Snyder, and following from the OP's comments to it:
In addition to an increase in pay, full professors often have a different expectation for service - to the department, institution, professional, whatever. Usually, these sorts of activities are undertaken to gain promotion and/or tenure. As a full professor, there are few options for advancement, and so fewer expectations that you do things to earn yourself a promotion.
Of course, slacking off after becoming a full professor will cheat you out of that better-paying named professorship or named chair.
Interesting discussion. I am a full professor at a research university. My rank does allow me to participate in any committee. It also enables me to be the department chair (I have) and to chair other committees.
I still write academic research papers and get research grants and contracts. Why? First, I have spent many years establishing a reputation in my field and do not want to forsake that reputation. Second, I want to be a positive role model for my undergraduate and graduate students as they move toward professional life. Third, I have financial motivation to do so (my university grants me a percentage of incoming research funds). Fourth: the research I do is important theoretically and for people who do important tasks in the "real world." Therefore, I feel like (hope) I'm making a difference in the world. Fifth, importantly, my graduate students need money, and my department doesn't receive enough from the upper administration. Therefore, grants/contracts pay their way. Sixth, I learned to be a driven, Type A, OCD academic in grad school, and old habits die hard. :^)
I noticed one of the responses mentioned the increase in pay. Sure, that would be nice. As one in the process of going up for tenure in business, I can tell you that research is required even after tenure is granted. It is a common misconception that you cannot be fired after you receive tenure. It does become more difficult. As long as the university needs your skills AND you are doing what you are supposed to be doing (teaching, service, AND research), then it is virtually impossible to get fired. But, to satisfy the research component, you must stay what is referred to as academically qualified. This means that you continue to do research even after tenure. In fact, you must continue to do so, even after you have become a full professor. Failure to do so results in negative evaluations by department heads which leads to lower if not stagnant pay. It leads to the implementation of plans for corrective action and if those plans are not followed can lead to dismissal from the university, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TENURE.
Most universities offer a bigger increase for promotion to Full Professor. However some universities may have amounts for promotion to Associate Professor at $3,000 and Full Professor $4,000. Do know that these amounts are below average.
