The university should give faculty an umbilical cord they'd be unwilling to cut."
— Samuel Dudley, Assistant Professor of Cardiology

"We are in danger of losing our most precious resource: our scholarly capital."
—Sharon Strocchia, Associate Professor of History

Keeping company,
O n spousal hiring

Why Faculty Come to Emory
By Daniel Teodorescu, Director of the Office of Reserach

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Some senior faculty recently recruited to Emory say their chief reasons for coming include excitement about the climate for research, a sense of collegiality, and interest in living in Atlanta. Those who have lately sought greener pastures, however, offer a dramatically different picture. Dissatisfaction with the research cli-mate, disappointment with collegiality and the quality of life in Atlanta, the lure of greater compensation, and the desire to be part of a top-ranked department in their fields are some of the reasons they cite for leaving.

While Randall Packard, former chair of history and current chair of history of science, medicine, and technology at Johns Hopkins, appreciated the support he received from friends and colleagues across Emory, he worried about the university’s commitment to intellectual innovation and excellence. At times, it seemed that “image had become as important as substance at Emory,” says Packard, and that “a lack of vision and commitment at the top had contributed to a general climate in which serious intellectual engagement was neither demanded or, in some cases, even expected. At the same time, Packard was attracted to Johns Hopkins by the opportunity to head one of the premier departments of its kind in the country.

Warwick University Research Fellow Margot Finn, formerly associate professor of history at Emory, echoes Packard’s critique. “A frenzied, flavor-of-the-month attitude toward innovation in research and teaching that detracts from more substantive, long-term goals” made Finn fear that the “window of opportunity for Emory to transform itself into a first-class research university may have closed.”

While Cindy Patton, former associate professor in the Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts who is awaiting final confirmation on an appointment in community health at Simon Frasier University, shares these researchers’ perception that Emory lacks a strong academic mission, she also describes a sense of personal isolation: “I have never been made to feel more unwelcomed.” Patton fears that “the lives of lesbian and gay faculty, while superficially accepted, are not considered of intrinsic value to the institution.”

Senior faculty recently recruited to Emory reflect an almost opposite image of this institution, however. Excitement about the climate for research, a warm sense of collegiality at Emory, and interest in living in Atlanta are some of the reasons they offer.

Both Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, associate professor of women’s studies, and Howard Kushner, Nat Robinson Professor of Science and Society, were lured by opportunities for rich collaboration across schools.

Connecting across departments was important for Geoffrey Bennington, associate professor of French. “I was attracted to Emory for several reasons: the outstanding quality of faculty in the French department, the unusual openness to continental thought in the philosophy department, and the prospect of exciting new developments around comparative literature,” says Bennington.

Emory’s location in a vibrant city was a plus for Jay Shanken, Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Finance. But more important, he says, was his sense that the business school has both the determination and resources to advance its standing in the field of finance.—A.B.B.