Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships FAQ

• What are the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships?

  The Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships serve as the cornerstone of an ambitious effort to advance cross-disciplinary work across the University.

  The Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships (BDPs) will form a cadre of one hundred world-class faculty members whose excellence in research, teaching, and service is centered on interdisciplinary scholarship. The BDPs bridge the university’s schools and divisions, conduct and stimulate innovative research that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries, and train a new generation of collaborative scholars. Together they strongly advance the university’s commitment to new directions in scholarship and to fields where Johns Hopkins is especially well-poised to assume a position of intellectual leadership.

  The BDPs will be appointed in at least two schools or divisions, including academic centers reporting directly to the provost. In exceptional cases, they also may be appointed in two or more diverse departments within a single school. The length of appointment term – to be at least five years at a time – is negotiated by each school or affiliate with renewal as the default expectation upon completion of each term.

  The BDPs will hold tenured positions in each unit (where tenure is available) and will teach, conduct research, and perform service in each unit. For administrative purposes, one academic unit will be the lead in each appointment.

  Teaching: Where possible, the BDP will teach in each unit, with a load appropriate for a senior faculty member. All BDPs are encouraged to teach undergraduate as well as graduate students. Teaching responsibilities will be negotiated in advance of the appointment.

  Service: Each BDP will perform service appropriate for each unit, with effort divided according to the terms of the appointment.

  F&A: The F&A generated by each BDP will be allocated where costs are incurred, consistent with federal regulations. The F&A split will be negotiated by the relevant deans or directors.

  When a BDP retires or otherwise leaves the position, the professorship reverts to the president and provost to be reallocated and awarded to a new candidate, following the appointment procedures in force at the time.

• How will the Bloomberg Distinguished Professors be chosen?

  Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships will be allocated by the president and provost. In the initial phase of the BDP program, fifty BDP positions were filled across nine divisions of the university. During the initial allocation phase, proposals were accepted for either targeted searches in defined areas or for specific individuals.

  In the second phase of the program recruiting a second tranche of 50 BDPs, the vast majority of the BDPs will be recruited in thematic clusters. Please visit each cluster for further information. Email clusterinfo@jhu.edu if you would like to be on a list for further information and job alerts.

• What are the selection criteria?

  1. World-class scholarship: Each BDP will be among the most distinguished scholars of his/her field, whose record of scholarship accomplishment and teaching excellence as well as promise of future scholarly innovation mark them as world leaders in these activities. Candidates will be appointed with tenure at the rank of associate or full professor at Johns Hopkins.
  2. Cross-disciplinary research: Each BDP will have a record of distinguished research that focuses on problems that naturally span more than one conventional academic discipline.
  3. Contributions to the university: The BDPs will fuel the growth of cross-disciplinary enterprises in the university. Their appointments will advance cross-disciplinary initiatives the strategic plans of the units in which they are appointed.

• How will tenure and promotion be handled?

  The BDPs will receive tenure in each of their home schools, where tenure is available. If a school or division does not award tenure, the BDP will be appointed at a level commensurate with a tenured faculty rank in that unit.

  Tenure reviews will be conducted by each school according to its usual procedures, supplemented by the provost’s guidelines for BDP appointments, and subject to coordination by the provost’s office to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort (for example, to solicit a single set of external letters to inform the tenure review in each participating school). BDP appointments then proceed through the central Tenure Advisory Committee (TAC), and the Board of Trustees.