What makes a top-tier, big-name university? While one could argue that it's a beautiful campus, a generous financial aid program or an outstanding record of career placement and graduate school acceptance, the real answer seems to be inextricably tied to one thing, and that is research. Universities like Tufts, in many ways, are like businesses in that they are judged by the quality of what they produce. It could be students who go on to be influential CEOs, politicians or artists. Or it could be groundbreaking research, past or present, that has made or reaffirmed a university's academic greatness.
But what about the professors who focus more on teaching their students than publishing research on their areas of expertise? While researching and teaching are certainly not mutually exclusive, most universities tend to focus on research that will heighten their name recognition, trusting that the teaching will take care of itself. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. It would be remiss to deny that research is important, but the Daily believes that the makings of a great university include professors who are as respected for their teaching as some others are for their research.
A popular academic mantra, "publish or perish," indicates just how much emphasis universities put on research. Those professors who conduct research and then, more importantly, publicize their findings and bring recognition to their universities, are the ones who get tenured and receive promotions. Meanwhile, the professors who shine in the classroom but do not patent new discoveries are left in the cold.
At Tufts, a tenure-tracked professor is given six years to produce and publish sufficient research in order to win tenure. If, at the end of those six years, the professor has not published anything substantial, she will be asked to leave the university, no matter her achievements in the classroom. Such was the fate of Gary McKissick, a community health lecturer and political science tenure-tracked professor. Despite being voted Professor of the Year in 2006 by students and receiving accolades from colleagues for attracting herds of students to the community health program, he was asked to leave in 2008 for failing to publish.
This is not to say that research is unimportant. Clearly, academic research plays a large role in the innovations in thought and technology that move our world forward. It is in university laboratories and hospitals where cures for deadly diseases are first discovered and tested. It is through think tanks like Tufts' own Global Development and Environmental Institute that new ways of looking at foreign policy and global economics come to the fore. Indeed, it was Tufts Dean of Arts and Sciences Robert Sternberg who proposed the triarchic theory of intelligence, arguing that it is one's ability to adapt to the changes in one's life that constitutes real intelligence. And being a good researcher in no way precludes one from being an excellent teacher.
But it is still research that takes precedence within the university — Tufts teachers are prodded to do research and helped along in this process, but the university does not give comparable training in how to give an engaging lecture or spark interrogative discussions at seminars.
Tufts has a chance to take a small step toward leveling the balance between research and teaching acumen with the Gittleman Endowment for Excellence in Teaching, honoring one of Tufts' greatest teachers, Professor Sol Gittleman (see today's front-page article). The endowment should seek to support and retain professors like Gittleman — ones that show a special aptitude in the classroom and a dedication to their students.
What is needed is some parity between students' needs and the exigencies of the pioneering intellectual world of academia. The professor's role as both a researcher and educator combines two interconnected aspects of academia — but too often the one falls behind in favor of the other. There would be nothing to teach if not for research, but there would be little transmission of knowledge to new generations without capable and inspiring teachers. It is time to allot some professorships to great teachers in the mold of Sol Gittleman or Gary McKissick, experts equipped with Ph.D.s and exceptional academic histories or the occupational experience to match but who see their duty as the conveyance of knowledge and the sparking of new thought in others.
