This procedure delineates a uniform approach to nominating State University of New York faculty members for the rank of distinguished professor.

Scope of the Program

Distinguished professorship is a rank open to all state-operated campuses of the University and may be conferred upon persons in any of the disciplines or fields of study. Appointment to the rank can only be conferred by the University Board of Trustees. It is expected that a person appointed to the rank will be accorded such support as is appropriate to his or her academic endeavor consistent with the resources of the appointing campus, including a salary above the mean salary for full professors.

Criteria for Selection

These criteria necessarily are stated in the most general terms and are meant to supplement rather than supplant criteria developed by the appropriate local nominating body. There are, of course, other criteria that it is expected that the local campus will use in the preparation of candidates. Using the same criteria, the local campus’s nomination will be confirmed by seeking assessment of other persons of national prominence.

• The individual person must have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within his or her chosen field through significant contributions to the research literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the case of the fine arts;
• The person's work must be of such a character that his or her presence will tend to elevate the standards of scholarship of colleagues both within his or her academic field and beyond; and
• The person's work must be of such quality that students and scholars on other campuses of the University could and would wish to benefit by lectures and seminars or other appropriate presentations he or she might bring to them.

Selection Process

Procedures at the Campus Level

Prior to formal nomination, a campus may employ any screening process it chooses. Once a decision is made to submit a nomination, it shall be done in the following manner:

• A nomination is submitted to the chancellor by a president with his or her endorsement of a scholar or artist for the rank of Distinguished Professor;
• The nomination is supported by extended curriculum vitae, including a comprehensive list of the nominee's publications, performances, or exhibitions. Reprints of articles and copies of books, or other suitable examples of the person's work upon which the scholarly or artistic contribution is to be judged, may be requested by the University provost; and
• Accompanying these materials will be at least five letters of endorsement from individuals both on and off the campus who are in a position to attest to the candidate's qualifications for appointment to the rank of distinguished professor.

Procedures at the University Level

The University provost provides the executive officer of the appropriate learned society with a bibliography of the person's works, and requests the names of three or four scholars best able to assess the nominee's contributions to the field. One of the recommended scholars is provided with a complete bibliography, including materials provided by the nominee and is asked for a written confidential assessment of the nominee's contribution to the research literature in the field. In the case of artists, similar appropriate means are employed to secure a qualified judge.

A panel of three persons who hold the rank of distinguished professor (when available) is asked to review the nominee's curriculum vitae, bibliography, samples of his or her writings or artistic work, other documentation provided with the nomination, and the written confidential evaluation of the consultant. The panel makes a recommendation to the provost concerning the appointment.

If a negative appraisal or recommendation is received at any point in the procedure, the proposing president is consulted on how he or she wishes to proceed.

If the recommendation is positive, the nomination is referred to the chancellor for review. If satisfied that the appointment is in the interest of the University, he or she proposes the appointment to the Board of Trustees for action.

There are no forms relevant to this procedure.

There are no related procedures relevant to this procedure.

There is no other information relevant to this procedure.

Board of Trustees Policies - Appointment of Employees (8 NYCRR Part 335)

Memorandum to Presidents from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs dated June 25, 1974.

In 1973 the Board of Trustees removed the distinction between the title of University Professor at university campuses and that of Distinguished Professor at university centers and asked that a uniform set of criteria and procedures be developed and distributed.

There are no appendices relevant to this procedure.