People
who teach at universities, the faculty, have a variety of educational
backgrounds. Here are the various common ranks in Liberal Arts and what
they mean:
Professors - professors, as a rule, have a PhD, which stands for Doctor of Philosophy. (Although they may not have studied philosophy at all, historically anyone who did just about anything having to do with academic work (the sciences, liberal arts, etc.) was called a philosopher. Even until around the beginning of the 20th century, textbooks in physics, chemistry, and such were typically entitled works in Natural Philosophy. Hence, Doctor of Philosophy). That is, they have completed a bachelor's degree (usually involving about four years of undergraduate work), a Master's Degree (usually involving 2 or 3 years of graduate school) and a Doctorate or PhD (usually involving 2 or 3 years of graduate work focused on writing a book-length academic work in their field). Professors are one of four ranks: Assistant, Associate, Full and Emeritus. 'Emeritus' is a honorific title given to some retired professors, usually those who have earned special distinction in their careers. The other three names are not descriptive (e.g., Assistant Professors do not assist anybody, etc.).
What do professors do? There are three major activities professors usually engage in to some extent: teaching, research and university service (e.g., serving in the universities administration). Typically, most of a professor's time is spent doing research, both for teaching their courses and for publication in academic journals (that is, journals primarily read by other professors in support of their own research - you likely will not have heard of any of these journals).Time spent in the classroom teaching is just the tip of the iceberg. Typically, in research universities, a professor will teach 2 or 3 courses per semester or less.
Professors, typically after six or seven years of service, may earn tenure. Tenure is a status that typically requires that professors can only be fired for certain reasons (e.g., gross incompetence, illegal activity, or a severe shortage of funding at the university) and that if they are to be fired, due process involving the professor's peers must be followed. The motive for creating and preserving tenure is to allow professors to pursue their research and teaching without fear of political reprisals - in other words, to create academic freedom. Historically, professors at universities in Western Europe could easily be fired, imprisoned or tortured and executed for discussing the results of their research (think Galileo, but there were many more). The result was an academic system, during the Dark Ages, that never made any real progress. The scientific and intellectual revolutions of the last 500 years were only made possible with the protection of researchers from political reprisal.
Instructors typically have a Master's Degree in their subject, but some also have a PhD. Instructors tend to be paid a salary smaller than that of professsors and may have fewer benefits. Typically they cannot be tenured and have little or no job security. Their primary duties are teaching undergraduate courses, and they will typically teach at least 4 or 5 per semester.
Adjuncts, historically, were people who were often retired, but who desired to teach in order to share their experiences with students. For instance, a retired top CEO from a major company might be asked or offer to teach a course at a Business School, or a famous musician might teach a course to music students. Adjuncts were simply teaching for the pleasure of doing so, or to give something back to their communities, so there was no issue of pay (which was often quite minimal) and no concern for benefits such as health insurance or retirement.
However, the massive slashing of funding for higher education in the US starting in the 1980s has led to heavy reliance on adjuncts in universities. In the past, virtually all courses would have been taught by professors. Now, most faculty in American universities are part time and more than 75% of instructional staff appointments are not eligible for tenure (for comparison, in 1969 only about 22% of appointments were not eligible for tenure). In 1990, most courses were taught by tenured faculty. Now, most college courses are taught by adjuncts.
The adjunct of today may have as little as 18 hours of graduate credits in the subject they teach, and are only very rarely the retired experts of the past. The pay is by the course and minimal (perhaps a couple thousand dollars per course), and there are typically no health benefits, no retirement benefits and no job security. Most teach part time. Some will teach five or six courses per semester in hopes of making a living. They often lack access to resources to be used to improve their teaching available to professors, such as workshops or teaching conferences. Since they are usually working multiple jobs, they are typically not able to actively research their field. Some adjuncts have Master's degrees or PhDs, and teach simply for the love of the subject and in the slim hope that they may find a better academic job.
Graduate Students have completed their bachelor's degree and are working on their Master's degree or PhD. If they are teaching, it is because they have succeeded in a competition to, first of all, be admitted to a graduate program and then to be awarded a Teaching Assistantship. The usual set-up is that the graduate student will teach, or help a professor with teaching, an undergraduate course in exchange for tuition and barely enough money for a dorm room and a steady diet of mac & cheese and coffee. In the process, the graduate student also learns how to teach. Although graduate students lack the teaching experience of professors, they tend to be much younger than professors and so can better relate to and understand their students' situations and problems. This can be of great benefit to undergraduate students.
Unfortunately, lack of funding has sometimes lead university administrations to take advantage of graduate students, treating them as cheap labor by having them teach two or three courses per semester or more. This can prevent the graduate student from completing the sort of research that could land them a position as a future professor.
Visiting professors are professors who have a regular job at another university, but are visiting your university for a semester or two, sometimes in order to complete research using the unique resources of the university.They may teach a couple of courses as a part of the deal.
So, that's how your professor might not really be a professor.
To read more about some of the issues concerning academic freedom and the war on higher education, see the home page of the AAUP.
Professors - professors, as a rule, have a PhD, which stands for Doctor of Philosophy. (Although they may not have studied philosophy at all, historically anyone who did just about anything having to do with academic work (the sciences, liberal arts, etc.) was called a philosopher. Even until around the beginning of the 20th century, textbooks in physics, chemistry, and such were typically entitled works in Natural Philosophy. Hence, Doctor of Philosophy). That is, they have completed a bachelor's degree (usually involving about four years of undergraduate work), a Master's Degree (usually involving 2 or 3 years of graduate school) and a Doctorate or PhD (usually involving 2 or 3 years of graduate work focused on writing a book-length academic work in their field). Professors are one of four ranks: Assistant, Associate, Full and Emeritus. 'Emeritus' is a honorific title given to some retired professors, usually those who have earned special distinction in their careers. The other three names are not descriptive (e.g., Assistant Professors do not assist anybody, etc.).
What do professors do? There are three major activities professors usually engage in to some extent: teaching, research and university service (e.g., serving in the universities administration). Typically, most of a professor's time is spent doing research, both for teaching their courses and for publication in academic journals (that is, journals primarily read by other professors in support of their own research - you likely will not have heard of any of these journals).Time spent in the classroom teaching is just the tip of the iceberg. Typically, in research universities, a professor will teach 2 or 3 courses per semester or less.
Professors, typically after six or seven years of service, may earn tenure. Tenure is a status that typically requires that professors can only be fired for certain reasons (e.g., gross incompetence, illegal activity, or a severe shortage of funding at the university) and that if they are to be fired, due process involving the professor's peers must be followed. The motive for creating and preserving tenure is to allow professors to pursue their research and teaching without fear of political reprisals - in other words, to create academic freedom. Historically, professors at universities in Western Europe could easily be fired, imprisoned or tortured and executed for discussing the results of their research (think Galileo, but there were many more). The result was an academic system, during the Dark Ages, that never made any real progress. The scientific and intellectual revolutions of the last 500 years were only made possible with the protection of researchers from political reprisal.
Instructors typically have a Master's Degree in their subject, but some also have a PhD. Instructors tend to be paid a salary smaller than that of professsors and may have fewer benefits. Typically they cannot be tenured and have little or no job security. Their primary duties are teaching undergraduate courses, and they will typically teach at least 4 or 5 per semester.
Adjuncts, historically, were people who were often retired, but who desired to teach in order to share their experiences with students. For instance, a retired top CEO from a major company might be asked or offer to teach a course at a Business School, or a famous musician might teach a course to music students. Adjuncts were simply teaching for the pleasure of doing so, or to give something back to their communities, so there was no issue of pay (which was often quite minimal) and no concern for benefits such as health insurance or retirement.
However, the massive slashing of funding for higher education in the US starting in the 1980s has led to heavy reliance on adjuncts in universities. In the past, virtually all courses would have been taught by professors. Now, most faculty in American universities are part time and more than 75% of instructional staff appointments are not eligible for tenure (for comparison, in 1969 only about 22% of appointments were not eligible for tenure). In 1990, most courses were taught by tenured faculty. Now, most college courses are taught by adjuncts.
The adjunct of today may have as little as 18 hours of graduate credits in the subject they teach, and are only very rarely the retired experts of the past. The pay is by the course and minimal (perhaps a couple thousand dollars per course), and there are typically no health benefits, no retirement benefits and no job security. Most teach part time. Some will teach five or six courses per semester in hopes of making a living. They often lack access to resources to be used to improve their teaching available to professors, such as workshops or teaching conferences. Since they are usually working multiple jobs, they are typically not able to actively research their field. Some adjuncts have Master's degrees or PhDs, and teach simply for the love of the subject and in the slim hope that they may find a better academic job.
Graduate Students have completed their bachelor's degree and are working on their Master's degree or PhD. If they are teaching, it is because they have succeeded in a competition to, first of all, be admitted to a graduate program and then to be awarded a Teaching Assistantship. The usual set-up is that the graduate student will teach, or help a professor with teaching, an undergraduate course in exchange for tuition and barely enough money for a dorm room and a steady diet of mac & cheese and coffee. In the process, the graduate student also learns how to teach. Although graduate students lack the teaching experience of professors, they tend to be much younger than professors and so can better relate to and understand their students' situations and problems. This can be of great benefit to undergraduate students.
Unfortunately, lack of funding has sometimes lead university administrations to take advantage of graduate students, treating them as cheap labor by having them teach two or three courses per semester or more. This can prevent the graduate student from completing the sort of research that could land them a position as a future professor.
Visiting professors are professors who have a regular job at another university, but are visiting your university for a semester or two, sometimes in order to complete research using the unique resources of the university.They may teach a couple of courses as a part of the deal.
So, that's how your professor might not really be a professor.
To read more about some of the issues concerning academic freedom and the war on higher education, see the home page of the AAUP.