Might be a little off topic.

[Guest mitchie41]

This question might be a little off topic, but I was wondering what the difference is between Full, Associate, Assistant and Adjunct Professors?

 

 

 

Thanks.

[Guest peachy]

Assistant, associate, and full professors are the three levels that tenure-track professors go through. A new tenure-track hire is generally hired at the assistant level. Somewhere between three and six years into the job, the assistant professor goes through a tenure and promotions process where teaching, research and service are reviewed, and if everything is satisfactory, then the professor is awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor.

 

After about another ten years, the associate professor can apply to go through the promotion process again, to be promoted to the rank of full professor. The rank of full professor is generaly based more on research than the associate rank, and a full professor should have achieved international recognition in his or her field.

 

Full professorships are more of a status thing than a practically meaningful thing, as opposed to the associate level, which goes along with getting tenure, which is important in a practical sense. Still, a typical professor would hope to retire eventually as a Full professor, not an Associate.

 

There are many variations on the process, sometimes tenure can be given without promotion, or sometimes people with very strong credentials are hired already at the associate professor level. But that's the general idea.

 

Adjunct professors are a different thing altogether. Being an adjunct professor is normally a status position only that allows someone working elsewhere access to resources at the university. Like a doctor who gets adjunct professor status at the university associated with a teaching hospital so that they can teach courses, have full library access, etc.