This paper presents the results of two studies at a large mid-Atlantic university that examined the height/success paradigm within the context of the university settings. Specifically, are the trends observed among taller persons in police and sales work equally valid for university professors? A random sample of faculty (N=90), revealed that academics are taller than the average American of their age and gender. The monotonic trend anticipated between height and academic rank revealed that assistant professors are 1.24 inches taller, associate professors are 1.50 inches taller, and professors are 1.97 inches taller than the average individual of their age and gender. Another study, using a sample of department chairmen (N=52), found that they are taller by 2.14 inches than the American of their age and gender. From examining the mechanisms by which taller persons rise to positions of authority, it was found that chairmen do not achieve that post at a younger age, they do not spend a greater proportion of their academic careers as chairmen, and they are no more likely to be hired from outside as from inside the university. Viewed from an interactionist perspective, these findings corroborate the idea that height is important not in itself but because it is a predictor of social dominance. Contains 24 references. (GLR)