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Association of Research Professors (ARP) Records, 1974-1985

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Association of Research Professors
Title
Association of Research Professors (ARP) Records
Dates
1974-1985 (inclusive)
Quantity
2 containers., (1 linear feet of shelf space.)
Collection Number
Cage 622
Summary
Includes records and correspondence related to membership; positions on campus issues; nominations for campus administrative positions; and the annual award for outstanding undergraduate research. Also includes ARP constitution, financial records and notices of ARP dinner meetings.
Repository
Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research use.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

The Association of Research Professors (ARP) was founded by a small group of Washington State University faculty during the 1974-75 academic year because they perceived a need for an organization that could further the recognition of the importance of research and scholarship in the University. They also sought to encourage the University, the public, and state government to recognize the research accomplishments of WSU faculty. Finally, they sought to encourage the acquisition of funds and time to permit additional high-quality research at the University.

The ARP recruited WSU faculty and staff with sustained publications records as members, because the founders believed that together they could promote common beliefs about the need for superior research programs at the University. An additional requirement to maintain membership was continued research activities. Members were subjected to a review every five years, in which the ARP scrutinized their research and publications records. Those who performed at a level less than expected by the ARP were dropped from member rolls.

By the end of its first year, the ARP had a membership of 64 faculty and staff. It held regular dinner meetings throughout the academic year at downtown restaurants, after which attendees participated in informal discussions with guest speakers over timely matters of concern to the university research community.

ARP members also circulated several position papers on the roll of research at state universities. In addition, it held a competition for oustanding undergraduate research. Finally, the ARP because of its amicable relationship with the University's central administration, served in an advisory capacity during job searches for several key posts.

Some faculty criticized the ARP at its inception for conferring membership only on faculty and staff in the "hard" sciences, with the view that only members of these fields could pursue "real" research, often through extramural funding, and create substantial publication records. By its second year, the ARP accepted for membership a few faculty from the social sciences and the humanities. By the early 1980s, membership included well over 100 faculty and staff from throughout the University community. Nevertheless, the ARP lost the support of some members who perceived it to be drifting away from its original objective of promoting research at the University and instead retreating into a forum in which members conversed about other unrelated topics in a supper club/social club atmosphere.

The ARP's relationship with the Glenn Terrell presidential adminstration was very cordial, with the president often joining the organization at its dinner meetings. The ARP did not enjoy such a relationship with Terrell's successor. Increasingly, it was open to informal charges of meddling with University affairs. By the end of the 1985-86 academic year the ARP all but vanished. Several years later, a similiar organization was founded as the Faculty Association for Scholarship and Research (FASR, "faser"). Nevertheless, the new organization possesses neither the ARP's large membership of the late 1970s and early 1980s nor the strong voice that it once projected on behalf of researchers.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

[Item Description]. Cage 622, Association of Research Professors (ARP) Records . Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Association of Research Professors Records are arranged in three series. The first series include records and correspondence related to membership nominations and notices for the ARP's regular dinner meetings. The second series includes general correspondence, mostly arranged chronologically, but also including two subject-oriented files. The third series is a mixture of records, including ARP position papers on several campus issues, administrative position searches, and the organization's annual award for outstanding undergraduate research. Finally, it includes the ARP's constitution, accounting records, and a recap of the organization's first year, 1974-75.

Acquisition Information

The Washington State University Libraries acquired the Association of Research Professors Records from Wesley Leid in October 1989. (Accessioned number MS89-54.)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Education, Higher--Research--Societies, etc.
  • Learned institutions and societies--Washington (State)--History
  • Universities and colleges--Washington (State)--Faculty--Societies, etc.

Corporate Names

  • Washington State University Association of Research Professors. waps
  • Association of Research Professors --Archives (creator)
  • Washington State University--Faculty--Societies, etc.

Finding aid prepared by Robert W. Hadlow
2012

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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