Two appointments at separate institutions?

[rouroboros]

I've come across two instances of senior faculty holding appointments at two separate universities.  I figured they were getting recruited and spending a year at their new institution whilst holding on to their former spot by being on leave.  These are not visiting positions; there is no qualifier in their title--just "full professor X."  In one case, that turned out to be true; this person returned to their former institution.  But in the other case, that person is still somehow showing up on both departmental web sites.  Is this something new?  Are there quantum senior faculty existing at two places at the same time?  I'm very confused.

[Hegemony]

I know someone who does this. He is part-time in a senior position at University A, and allegedly full-time at University B. Strangely, University B does not seem to be aware of this. He has the kind of gig where he gets a very flexible schedule. I still don't think it's entirely ethical.

[rouroboros]

As far as I can tell, neither position is a part-time gig.  They're both full time positions.  Not sure if it's just lazy web site administration but it's been two years.

[jerseyjay]

There have been times when I have searched somebody on the internet and they are listed as being full-timers at two different schools, often thousands of miles apart. Usually they have moved from one university to another and their previous university has not removed them. Two years is a bit long, however.

There is one professor at my school (in another department) who got tenure and then had a falling out with his colleagues. He got a part-time job with a fancy title (something that does not make it immediate obvious he is not full-time) at a school the next town over. From what I have been told, he teaches his classes at our school, and does no service and barely interacts with his colleagues. He will never get promoted, but he evidently does not care. He has a page on the website of the other school which does not indicate that he is actually full time elsewhere.

There is another tenured professor at my school (tenured) who got a PhD at the state university 50 miles away. He got hired as an adjunct in the state university, and all his publications note his PhD and the fact that he teaches at the state university (without mentioning his title) and don't say anything about where he is actually tenured. He's a nice guy, and gets along with everybody, but I guess prefers the aura of the research university over ours. 

I have also heard of people who have some kind of courtesy appointment at Harvard or Yale but are actually teaching elsewhere. And I believe that in the 1990s when NYU was in the process of upgrading itself from a commuter school to a major research university, they hired a bunch of Ivy League professors with high salaries and minimal duties. If I remember correctly, Stephen J. Gould was hired this way by NYU while still keeping his full-time job at Harvard.

[mamselle]

I'd credit website lag first.

I'm still listed on one school's website as an EA on a job I left 22 years ago, and I've written to them twice about it.

But I also worked for people who had the kind of courtesy appointment discussed above while working as a full professor as their 'main job.'

As long as both schools know and approve, there's no issue; it's when something untoward is going on that there are problems.

M.

[Wahoo Redux]

I'd credit website lag first.

I'm still listed on one school's website as an EA on a job I left 22 years ago, and I've written to them twice about it.

I almost lost a book contract because Toxic U, which we had left almost a year before, still had me listed on their website.  I'd updated my editor that I was moving and provided my gmail, but hu had apparently lost it and Googled me, found me at Toxic U, and had repeatedly emailed me there to, obviously, no response.  The publisher was on the point of giving up when I fortunately emailed the editor and asked about galleys. The editor was understanding.

Toxic U had been "updating" their website for over two years, well before we left, and had decided not to make any major changes until their new framework was up----I actually emailed Toxic IT and threatened to get a lawyer if they did not remove me, and they did.  Still makes me mad thinking about it.

[lightning]

Like so many have said, there is probably a good explanation, because holding full-time appointments at two institutions can be grounds for dismissal at either institution, even if tenured at one of them.

The rules are usually pretty clear at any institution, about holding another full-time job.

Even if I hold a part-time position at another university, I'm required to disclose it.

[mleok]

Many of the famous senior professors I know do have concurrent appointments at separate institutions. Typically, their main appointment is at a prestigious research university, and the secondary appointment is at some Asian university that is looking for the halo effect of having them listed as a faculty member. They seem to handle the potential conflict of commitment by spending time at their secondary appointment only during the summer.

[Parasaurolophus]

Very fancy people sometimes get to do this in my field  usually, but not always, in different countries. They usually spend a semester in one place, another in the other.

[rouroboros]

Yes, the very fancy people live by different rules--I get that.  The two cases I write about are senior scholars who are respected, but not super powerhouses by any means.  And their moves weren't from Ivy league to obscure overseas schools or aspirational rich schools.  More like middling R1 to middling R1.  I guess I just wasn't sure, beyond lagging web sites, what kind of new arrangement this could be.

[Ruralguy]

Maybe some sort of arrangement to soothe the powers that be, graduate students, collaborators at the school, etc.. If its not that or lagging websites, I highly doubt its cheaters, but I have seen it, though only at my lowly 100-ish ranked SLAC, and usually they are trying out adjuncting at some other college. I don't know why, since it can't pay much. Perhaps they think they are doing someone a favor. Or paying off gambling debt.

[Biologist_]

A few faculty members at my university have moved to permanent positions at other institutions for personal reasons and have been granted leaves of absence by the dean and department faculty. In one case, the person returned after a year. In another case, the move became permanent but the leave of absence lasted at least two years, maybe three. The leaves of absence were attempts to keep good people and avoid the hassle of searching to replace them, and they didn't cost us anything. In at least one case, I think it was the dean who suggested a leave of absence just in case the faculty member wanted to return. These were reasonably successful faculty at a university that prioritizes teaching more than research, not big names.

I didn't check our website at the time, but I would imagine their faculty profiles might have remained up at the same time that their new employers listed them on their websites.