Academic ranks in the United States
Academic ranks in the United States are the titles, relative
importance and power of
professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia.
Professorship
Most common hierarchy
Background
Temporary faculty and special appointments
Research personnel
Teaching personnel
Ecclesiastical ranks
Other
Administrative ranks
Officers
of the corporation
Academic administrators
See also
References
External links
For regular faculty (i.e., not counting administrative positions such as chairships or deanships, nor
positions considered "staff" rather than faculty), the descending hierarchy in most cases is:
Distinguished, Endowed or University Professor (Other such
titles of special distinction
vary by institution)
Professor ("Full Professor", i.e., the destination of the "tenure track," upon exhausting all
promotions other than those of special distinction)
Associate Professor (A mid-level, usually tenured, faculty member)
Assistant Professor (typically entry-level for "tenure track" positions which lead to Associate
Professor)
Research Associate,
Lecturer,
Instructor,
Visiting Professor (usually
non-tenure-track
positions, sometimes with their own respective ranking hierarchies)
Somewhat outside the regular hierarchy:
Adjunct Professor,
Clinical Professor,
Professor of Practice,
Research Professor. The
Contents
Professorship
Most common hierarchy
Academic ranks in the
United States - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_ranks_in_the_United_States
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first three apply to people who have outside activities such as medical practice, professional
engineer, lawyer and do not work full-time in a research capacity. The title Research Professor
is sometimes given to people who also work, in parallel, for a research
institute not connected
to a university or are faculty on a department performing only research, typically on grant-
based "soft money".