FAQ
The Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships serve as the cornerstone of an ambitious effort to advance cross-disciplinary work across the University.
The Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships program is recruiting a cohort of 130 world-class faculty members whose excellence in research, teaching, and service is centered on interdisciplinary scholarship. Bloomberg Distinguished Professors (BDPs) bridge the university’s schools and divisions, conduct and stimulate innovative research that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries, and train a new generation of collaborative scholars. Together they strongly advance the university’s commitment to new directions in scholarship and to fields where Johns Hopkins is especially well-poised to assume a position of intellectual leadership.
Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships are allocated by the President and Provost. In the initial phase of the program, 50 BDP positions were filled across nine divisions of the university. Proposals were accepted for either targeted searches in defined areas or for specific individuals. For the second and third tranche, 80 positions are allocated across a mix of thematic clusters proposed by JHU faculty and targeted searches.
World-class scholarship: Each BDP is among the most distinguished scholars of his/her field, whose record of scholarship accomplishment and teaching excellence as well as promise of future scholarly innovation mark them as world leaders in these areas. Candidates are appointed with tenure at the rank of associate or full professor at Johns Hopkins.
Cross-disciplinary research: Each BDP must have a record of distinguished research that focuses on problems that naturally span more than one conventional academic discipline.
Contributions to the university: BDPs fuel the growth of cross-disciplinary enterprises in the university. Their appointments advance cross-disciplinary initiatives and the strategic plans of the units in which they are appointed.
Except for the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, BDPs can be recruited at the associate professor level. We have hired four incredible associate professor BDPs to date, all of whom have now been promoted to full professor. We suggest considering more senior associate professors with a strong track record and demonstrable trajectory.
Of our entire cohort, there are currently 10 internal BDPs. If any of those BDPs leave the position or retire, the position can be transferred to another internal BDP or repurposed to an external BDP. This decision will be made at the discretion of the President and Provost.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is a very important partner, and we welcome joint appointments. Four BDPs currently have joint appointments with the APL.
There are existing BDPs that are appointed across three divisions. However, we have learned that commitments to service and/or teaching requirements can stretch one very thin. If there is an appointment across three divisions, we would recommend all responsibilities be discussed during recruitment and defined in offer letters.
If it is a tenure-granting division, the BDP needs to hold tenure there. For example, if it is a joint appointment in Whiting School of Engineering and Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, then they need tenure in both. If a joint appointment is between the Berman Institute – a non-tenure granting entity – and Whiting School of Engineering, they need to have tenure in the Whiting School of Engineering. BDPs cannot have a joint appointment in two divisions that are non-tenure-granting.
