A Growing College Rivalry: The Fight for Faculty Stars

George Mason University officials could not shout loud enough when economist Vernon L. Smith won the Nobel Prize in 2002. Smith's recruitment a year earlier had shone a welcome light on the school, and the award was a crowning bonus.

Today, GMU is quiet, as Smith has slipped away for a job in California, lured by the same administrator who brought him to GMU.

Some universities play down faculty member moves, calling them part of the recruitment process in higher education. Others refer to many of the raids on star faculty members by competing universities as poaching or outright theft.

"Top-talent people who are happy and successful and thriving as academicians are free agents," said Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis. "Imagine being manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, a World Series-class team, and every one of your players is always in free agency."

Dealmaking is constant, delicate and increasingly competitive as schools hunt for ways to attract top educators and keep their own stars from straying. The benefits to playing the faculty shuffle are many; academic prestige and grant money often come with new recruits, said David Ward, president of the nonprofit American Council on Education and a former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. ...

•	A Growing College Rivalry: The Fight for Faculty Stars The Washington Post, Monday, Jan. 14, 2008 Byline: Valerie Strauss, Washington Post Staff Writer