CRITERIA FOR PROFESSOR
Here is the example of criteria for Professor:
The criteria for promotion to full professor [here referred to as Professor] are "continued excellence in scholarship, teaching, and service; demonstrated distinguished influence in the scholarship of the discipline; and demonstrated distinguished influence."
Since this is a promotion to the highest normal academic rank in academia [assistant professor, associate professor, professor (referred to here as "full" professor)], we expect that a person at this rank will be an eminent scholar in her/his field. "Eminent scholarship" might involve both original research and major synthesis in the field.
The term "professor" in the academic system differs from the term in many other parts of the world. It relates solely to the scholarship and other contributions to the University made by the candidate and not to the person in charge of the department (who is usually referred to as the chairman - a title that conveys little of the prestige of the professorship in the European system!).
There is no limit to the number of people in a department who theoretically may be full professors, and most had held faculty positions for 12-15 years before reaching full professor.)