Promotion to Full Professor: Moving Beyond Tenure and Associate Professorship

Although there has been great discussion and numerous workshops on obtaining tenure and promotion to associate professor, there has been little exploration of the expectations regarding the next step—promotion to full professor. To fill this void, this study gathered information from full professors teaching in 33 US doctoral programs in criminology and criminal justice. Survey questions asked subjects to note what they believe are the most important criteria for promoting a candidate to full professor. The study found that journal articles were critical for promotion, while grants, publishing a book, and service were not. Furthermore, individual variables such as gender, degree field, prior work as a criminal justice practitioner, and the department context such as program rank, the percentage of women, and number of full professors had significant impacts on the ranking of a candidate’s contributions, and the recommendation for promotion. The findings and implications are discussed.