Definition of professor
Kim Stahler
professor, associate professor, and assistant professor. I know that
it has to do with degree and years of experience, but is it different
according to the institution? Thank you.
~~Kim
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SLHinton17
>Can someone clearly explain the difference between instructor,
>professor, associate professor, and assistant professor. I know that
>it has to do with degree and years of experience, but is it different
>according to the institution?
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There is no clear universal difference among these ranks, and even at one given
institution, there is some room for interpretation. At the University of
California, San Diego, there is no academic rank called "instructor,"
although this term is used for those who teach courses for University
Extension. There is a poorly-defined term for people who teach only one or two
courses, and may have other positions (even non-academic ones) on the campus;
this is "lecturer." In the regular career academic track, a person with a
Ph.D. may be appointed as an Assistant Professor, and hold this position for
several years. Then that person is either promoted to Associate Professorship
(with tenure) or let go to seek employment somewhere else. After a few years
of Associate Professorship, the candidate is perhaps eligible for promotion to
Professor (often called Full Professor.) Associate and full Professorship call
for evaluation of the candidate's professional standing. As an example of the
flexibility, one Assistant Professor I know, who had demonstrated an unusual
ability to deal directly with students, was given the job of Provost of one of
the undergraduate colleges. "Provost" is a rank without tenure, although most
such administrators already have, and retain , an Associate or full
Professorship in some academic department, as a surety of employment. This
particular person was given the title of Lecturer -- with tenure in his
academic Department.
I'm sure it's all very different at other institutions. I spent 36 years with
the University of California in the non-academic roles of Senior Museum
Zoologist and Director of Relations With Schools; on the side, I was an
Instructor for University Extension, and for about 10 years had a special
appointment as Lecturer in Folklore with the Department of Literature. At one
point I was offered a job as Associate Professor of folklore at another State
institution (not one of the 9 University of California campuses) -- but without
tenure.
Sam Hinton
La Jolla, CA