Faculty who win "big" awards?

[financeguy]

What happens at your school when a faculty member gets one of the major national or international Awards? Is there an attempt to retain? Your field is so competitive it doesn't really change their prospects beyond what they are currently? It changes your colleague's marketability so much it's almost certain they won't stay? I've got a distant colleague elsewhere in another field that won one of the majors beginning with P and am curious how this plays out... we were joking about the lack of ability to turn a profit off os something that might only "sound good."

[research_prof]

Nothing. They will not even say "congrats". That happens at universities that do not care about faculty and their research. Not to mention that in terms of retention they will do absolutely nothing. I suppose universities that care (or pretend they care) would at the very least issue a press release.

[Hibush]

Press release. Article in the school paper.

[Parasaurolophus]

Press release. Article in the school paper.

That's what would happen here. But none of us are likely to win big anytime soon! We're too rinky-dink.

[Ruralguy]

Yeah, we'd also do the press release thing (unless its about COVID or politics, nobody picks it up). It would show up  on the web site, and maybe the college paper.

That person would probably win our internal research award that year, but of course they wouldn't care if they did at that point.

We'd probably guess that they'd leave, we've had a couple of folks do that after outgrowing us with a big award, etc.. We wouldn't be able to do much, other than the above and maybe if there were a relevant endowed professorship they could get, they'd get it.

So, even though we are clearly teaching oriented, we do *try* to retain excellent scholars, but at some point there's only so much we can do.

[financeguy]

I found out this person's current affiliation is a slightly fancier adjunct role, something ending "in residence" which is funny since he's almost never "in residence" at this institution but maybe gives a presentation every now and then. He doesn't teach classes. I wonder how many places would overlook no teaching experience or terminal degree if they have the biggest award in their field? My guess is that this person would not be the traditional hire for a listed formal search but could be a good fit for a "make the role you want" type opportunity for a department trying to boost their profile.

[mamselle]

...and get grants.

M.

[Hibush]

...and get grants.

M.

That is one of the essential expectations for a hire of opportunity. If the prize were a Pulitzer, to pick one starting with P, it would likely be someone in a department where grant-getting doesn't play a major role. I don't know the internal politics of those depts at my school, so no guesses on the dynamic in deciding to poach or retain someone who got a Pulitzer.

[Hegemony]

The university ignores it except for a couple of administrators who mutter "I hope they won't be expecting more salary or anything greedy like that. After all, we gave them a free Post-It last year."

[Brego]

What Hegemony said. 

I won three nationally competitive grants in as many weeks.  It led to resentment from others and the claim that my success was "unusual."

My mentor won the most prestigious prize in our field.  He asked for a raise from his R1 and was refused.  He immediately went on the market and got an Oxbridge job. 

[AmLitHist]

The university ignores it except for a couple of administrators who mutter "I hope they won't be expecting more salary or anything greedy like that. After all, we gave them a free Post-It last year."

Hey, don't knock it.  I'd be tickled to get a free Post-It here! 

(An upper admin publicly referred to faculty here as "light bulbs" a couple of years ago right before Covid--as in, "expenses that are necessary to the running of the place, but not really worth thinking much about until they become noticeable only when they fail." This, in a room full of faculty whose morale was already tanking.)

Point taken, though!

[mozman]

Faculty who don't use large awards or big grants to renegotiate their position are cheating themselves. Either to stay where they are with a pay/status bump, or to move somewhere better.

(I forgot about thefora after transitioning from CHE, nice to be back!)

[mamselle]

Welcome back, mozeman!

M.

[glowdart]

There might be a piece on the homepage if we're talking about an award that people outside the field know well (Pulitzer, MacArthur Genius Grant, Nobel Prize, etc.)

Now, if we're talking about an invite to the Oxford Round Table, then that would be celebrated, for sure, because it sounds fancier than the Fields Medal to the ever rotating cast of characters who produce our social media content.

[mozman]

To answer the question more directly, my University will often do press releases for large awards or grants, or high impact papers. Sometimes this has to be initiated by me. My college and dept have several professional writers I can work with, and I have hired and worked with my own private writer when I thought the Uni ones weren't doing a good job.

Did you know you don't have to wait for your uni to write a press release about you? You can do it yourself!

And yes, I renegotiate my position and salary every year dependent on my performance. I don't always get everything what i ask for but I get enough. It adds up year after year, WAY more than COL raises.