Talk:Reader (academic rank)

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[edit] Role of Readers

In some Universities (including mine), Reader was the title given to the administrative head of a Department whose nominal Professor was an absentee. Two of our science Departments had major SERC funding, in return for which their chairs were awarded to government appointees. The "Professors" spent most of their time on committees and at conferences (it was said they needed their University appointments to raise their standing in international academic circles, where someone no more senior than a lecturer with tenure might have the title "Professor"). So those Departments were run by a "Reader", who was in effect the Professor in all but name; this is analogous to the University itself being run by a Vice-Chancellor, while the Chancellor is just a celeb figurehead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Swiveler (talk • contribs) 05:54, 3 October 2008 (UTC)