The Incentive Mechanism Of Tenured Professor In American Higher Education Institutions

The reform and development of colleges and universities depend on the teachers, especially depend on the group of professors. Nowadays more and more scholars pay attention to the problem of how to incent professors to carry out their obligations. Tenured professors are the mainstay of American colleges and universities, and they play a very important role in teaching, research and university management. This paper discusses the incentive mechanism of tenured professor from three aspects: incentive target, incentive environment, incentive strategy,and then analyzes the characteristics of the incentive mechanism. This paper adopts document method, comparative method and case study method.The incentive target is the starting point and finishing point of the incentive mechanism. This paper firstly analyzes tenured professors’professional characteristics and special psychological needs, clearing the target of the incentive mechanism. Secondly this paper explores the incentive environment from the aspects of academic environment and system guarantee.The incentive strategy is the heart of the tenured professor incentive mechanism. This paper discuss this through the aspects such as compensation system, job support and evaluatien.The incentive mechanism of tenured professor in American colleges and universities has its special characteristics. These characteristics are worthy of our reference. The last part of this paper focus on how to use it for reference, in order to promote the reform in our colleges and universities.