Early in the ERC Program, there was great concern about the effect of participation in a cross-disciplinary research center, where team research and multiple authorship of papers blurred the contributions of individuals. The culture at our university has long recognized in the promotion and tenure decision process the positive importance of faculty participation in research centers. We rely on the department heads of all departments represented to ensure that departmental promotion and tenure policies encourage center participation. This question has been exhaustively studied by universities and it is clear and unanimous that being an ERC investigator is a big plus and helps with promotion and tenure. The ERC provides the faculty with the opportunity to get national exposure, support more students, continually update educational material with the latest research results, and participate in industry-relevant research.
Publication is facilitated.
The natural result is advancement in the academic ranks. This prospect can be minimized if the Center Director and Associate Director for Research maintain close ties with the departments and ensure that they have a substantive, direct input to the promotion and tenure process within the departments. Thus, one of the primary rewards of ERC research program management is seeing the ERC become accepted by researchers in associated fields and watching the mainstream move in the direction the ERC has already gone, so that faculty and students perceive participation in the ERC not as a career risk but as a career enhancement.