IN THIS CORNER
RECRUITING A STAR' PHYSICIST
Author: By Robert Levey Globe Staff
Date: Wednesday, October 13, 1982
Page: ?????
Section: RUN OF PAPER
Texas A&M University, a well-known outpost of bigtime college football, is
bidding to enter the ranks of bigtime college physics.
Harvard University physicist Sheldon Glashow, a 1979 Nobel Prize winner,
has said that Texas A&M is trying to woo him onto its faculty with a salary
and perquisite package that rivals that of the new A&M football coach, Jackie
Sherrill.
Sherrill signed on with Texas A&M last January for what is reported to be
the most lucrative package ever offered by an American educational
institution. His deal is estimated to total $1.6 million over seven years.
On Monday, Glashow was quoted in the Harvard Crimson, the student
newspaper, as saying that Texas A&M officials have informally indicated they
would match the Sherrill deal. "Apparently certain circles didn't see that
there should be different valuations of physicists and football coaches," he
said.
In an interview with a Globe reporter yesterday, Glashow said, "There has
been no offer." He did not deny he and A&M were talking, and he noted that
though the weather was oppressive, the Greater Houston area was getting more
interesting all the time.
Glashow confirmed that he is scheduled to teach a seminar at Texas A&M
later this month. And he said he is also considering spending his sabbatical
year of 1983-84 teaching there.
Texas A&M has already attracted several well-known younger physicists, but
its faculty lacks scientists in the Nobel Prize category. Administrators there
acknowledge they are trying to build up the national reputation of their
science departments.
Harvard has been outbid for several other "star" professors in recent
years. For example, Steven Weinberg, who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in
physics with Glashow, left Harvard two years ago for the University of Texas
in Austin for a reported six-figure salary.
The top faculty salaries at Harvard go to the 10 tenured professors who
hold the title University Professor. Their salary is set annually by the
Harvard president; they currently earn $80,000 a year.
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