Instructors, associate professors, assistant professors. These designations may seem trivial, but to faculty members, it could make a difference.
Stacey Ardoin, a Human Resources coordinator, said faculty members with the rank of instructor are required to have a masters degree and generally teach lower-level courses.
Instructors are also paid less than professors. According to the Office of Budget and Planning Web site, in fall 2002, instructors made an average salary of $34,518 compared to a $82,916 salary for professors.
Carruth McGehee, Faculty Senate president, said instructors work with one-year contracts, and their job security depends on a continuing need for that position.
In addition to regular instructors, there also are career instructors.
Judy Kahn, a career instructor in the English department, said a career instructor is a regular instructor who has gone through a three-year evaluation.
Kahn said while career instructors are kept on a year-to-year contract like other instructors, career instructors have a promise from the department to be kept indefinitely.
Kahn said the promise is not binding, but it does provide career instructors more job security than other instructors.
Kahn said career instructors used to be able to be promoted to professor status, but that is no longer the case.
“The purpose was to keep a solid core of instructors for solid undergraduate education,” Kahn said.
Above the rank of instructor are those with professor designations.
According to the University’s Policy Statement 36, there are minimum qualifications for professors.
The policy statement said an assistant professor requires a terminal degree or equivalent professional experience in the discipline, a promise of ability to perform assigned duties and clear evidence of potential for research.
Associate professors, professors and professionals-in-residence also are required to have a terminal degree or an equivalent professional experience in the appropriate discipline.
In addition, these professors give “evidence that the individual’s scholarly or artistic contributions have attained national and international recognition appropriate to the rank.”
PS-36 also said that research is the primary responsibility of assistant professors, associate professors and professors.
Carruth McGehee, Faculty Senate president, said an associate professor is a higher rank that usually comes with tenure.
McGehee said that, when assistant professors are in their sixth year of teaching, they are usually given formal consideration for tenure and the rank of associate professor.
McGehee said the difference between a tenured and a non-tenured position is the level of responsibility.
“A person in a tenured position has a kind of responsibility for academic policy,” McGehee said. “It is a higher level of responsibility and also carries substantial job security.”
McGehee said those in tenured positions can generally only be removed for financial reasons or for dismissal reasons.