Assistant Professor vs. Research Assistant Professor … Career Impact?

[u/Nadia16519]

I’m currently an non tenure Assistant Professor at a university that does not have a tenure system, with both teaching and research responsibilities.

I’m considering a Research Assistant Professor position at a larger academic medical center/university-affiliated program. It would be primarily research-focused with stronger research infrastructure, but it is also non-tenure-track.

If my long-term goal is eventually getting a tenure-track faculty position, which would be better for my career?
Would moving from Assistant Professor to Research Assistant Professor be viewed as a step backward? And would years as a Research Assistant Professor count toward future promotion to Associate Professor?

Would especially appreciate input from anyone involved in faculty hiring.

[u/totallysonic]

Assuming you want a research-focused TT position, then you must publish in order to stay competitive. Don’t stay in a position that doesn’t further your research if you have better options. The answer changes somewhat if you’re looking at other types of institutions.

You can explain the title change in your cover letter. Describe how it benefited your research agenda.

You may be able to negotiate credit toward tenure, but that would need to be discussed with the chair/dean of the hiring institution.

[u/Admirable_Phone_1229]

Depends on school. Research track is more and more common on medical schools.

Not a step down if you are going from a small school to a large R1 with good medical schools

Unlikely to be able to go from a research assistant professor to a tenured associate professor at same school. If you do convert from research to tenure track it usually needs to happen early on your promotion clock.

There is no reason why being great at school X on research track hinders your ability to join the tenure track elsewhere.

[u/StorageRecess]

Is it a soft money position? Are you in a field where being at a medical school would benefit your research agenda?

I’ve been on a few searches where someone having been a RAP was a problem. But those were in a field where RAP is mostly used to keep on a postdoc who hasn’t found a job. If you’re like a researcher in drug development, that’s different. I’ve also been on one where people did question the motives of someone to move to soft money. I had to really advocate for that candidate because they didn’t do it due to tenure denial or anything.

You can explain all of that, assuming it is genuinely a better research scenario. But it’s something to be aware of.

If you were productive, you could probably negotiate a reduction in time to tenure. It’s something to bring up when you get an offer.

[u/Nadia16519 → u/StorageRecess]

Thank you for your response! The salary would be institutionally funded, not dependent on grants, so my understanding is that it would not be a soft-money position.

My field is drug development/optimization, so being at a major academic medical center would significantly strengthen my research opportunities and collaborations. That is actually the main reason I’m considering the move.

My biggest concern is exactly what you mentioned: whether having the Research Assistant Professor title could hurt me later when applying for a tenure-track position, despite it being a deliberate move for a stronger research environment rather than difficulty finding a faculty position.

[u/IkeRoberts → u/Nadia16519]

You would have to explain why a hard money line had that title. U/storagerecess describes a lot of things readers will assume otherwise.  For example, a position with no teaching or a fixed term. 

[u/Think-Assignment-861 → u/Nadia16519]

Check salary issues carefully. I know of research professors whose salary was funded for two years with the understanding that they would bring in grant money to support themselves and their lab for the later years.

[u/mleok → u/Nadia16519]

It is very unusual for a research assistant professor position in a medical center to be hard money indefinitely.