aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- RE: [aaus-list] translating academic ranks

["D'Anieri, Paul J" <p-danieri@ku.edu>]

To answer your question most directly, no. It is just about impossible to translate US (I'll leave the Canadians to speak for themselves) academic ranks into Ukrainian, because the systems are set up differently, and the postions do not directly correspond. Same with the various administrative units. The problem is not US/Ukraine, but US-Europe. Things are simply conceptualized and organized differently, and there's no direct correspondence. That being said, here's an effort to provide some clarification.

 

I essentially agree with Bob Kravchuk's evaluation: The kandydat nauk is not the exact equivalent to anything in the US system. In terms of the expectations for receiving the degree, it's probably closer to an MA with thesis. However, functionally, it plays the same role as the PhD: it qualifies one to begin a career as a faculty member, and, for those not in academia, it is accepted as demonstrating credentials as a researcher.

 

I could be wrong, but in my mind the Ukrainian "dotsent" is equivalent to the US Assistant Professor. I might see the "assystent" as equivalent to our "lecturer," a non-tenure track position that does not carry faculty rank. I don't see any direct correspondence between our Associate Professor and anything in Ukraine. In the US, the "Associate" signifies above all that one has been granted tenure.

 

In my work, I've found "department" to be the rough equivalent of "viddil." Finding a US translation for the European "Faculty" is harder. I think that due to the different organizational structures, there's not a direct corresponding division at most US universities. I've never found a satisfactory way of translating into Ukrainian what we have at Kansas (and many other US universities): a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that covers everything Physics to Economics, to literature and Philosophy.

 

The terminological confusion is increased by the fact that the word "college" is used to mean two completely different things in the US. It can mean either an institution primarily focused on teaching liberal arts and sciences to undergraduates (and it appears in many names; Dartmouth College, Williams College, etc.), or it can mean a division within a university (as in the example above, or a "college of veterinary medicine, etc). In this second context, the word "school" has the exact same meaning (e.g. Harvard Law School).

 

Hope that helps.

 

Paul D'Anieri

________________________________

Paul D'Anieri
Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Professor, Department of Political Science
The University of Kansas
1450 Jayhawk Blvd., 200 Strong Hall
Lawrence, KS 66045

(785) 864-3661 (office)
(785) 864-5331 (fax)

danieri@ku.edu

---

From: aaus-list-bounces@ukrainianstudies.org [mailto:aaus-list-bounces@ukrainianstudies.org] On Behalf Of Adrian Ivakhiv
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:57 AM
To: aaus-list@ukrainianstudies.org
Subject: [aaus-list] translating academic ranks

Is there a proper way to translate North American academic ranks to Ukrainian?  I see a general trend towards the following on Russian on-line sites, but with some departures from it (e.g., "tenure track" defined as "Professor", etc.): 

 

Assistant professor (British lecturer and senior/principal lecturer) = assystent

Associate professor (Brit. reader) = docent

Full professor (Brit. professor) = professor

Ph.D. = kandydat nauk 

Researcher (or research fellow) = nauchnyi sotrudnyk

Graduate student ("postgraduate" in U.K.) = aspirant

Undergraduate = student

 

Are these correct for Ukraine as well?

 

How about the following:

Ph.D. candidate (is this 'kandydat' or is that reserved for completed Ph.D.s?)

Postdoctoral fellow

Adjunct professor

Research professor

Chair

Distinguished professor

Department (viddil?)

Faculty (kafedra?)

School (fakul'tet?)

 

And is it correct to use "Dr." for ranks beneath full professor and "Prof." only for full professors, or is it commonly used for all tenured (or tenure-track?) ranks? 

 

(Incidentally, someone who knows the answers to these questions should add them to the Wikipedia "professor," "lecturer," and "academic rank" sites. Ukrainians could even beat Russians in getting there.)

 

Thanks very much,

Adrian Ivakhiv