Academic ranks in the United States

For ranks and types of professors, see Professors in the United States

Academic ranks in the United States for regular faculty are:

• University Professor or Institute Professor (not all universities)
• Distinguished Professor (usually a "Named Chair")
• Professor ("Named Chair")
• Professor ("Full Professor")
• Associate Professor
• Assistant Professor
• Instructor (sometimes "Lecturer")

Background

Traditionally, Assistant Professor has been the usual entry-level rank for faculty who hold doctorates, although this depends on the institution and the field. While Instructorships seldom require a doctorate, competition for jobs has led to an increase in the number of Instructors who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees.

The rank of Associate Professor usually indicates that the individual has been granted tenure at the institution. Those hired as Assistant Professors on a traditional tenure track will usually attain the rank of Associate after six to a maximum of eight years, or their employment will be terminated at most universities and those in AAUP. It is usually another six to ten years before an Associate Professor can be considered for promotion to full professor.

Professor is often the highest rank attained by a senior faculty member, although some institutions may offer some unique title to a senior faculty member whose research or publications have achieved wide recognition. This is most often a "named chair": for example, the "John Doe Professor of Philosophy". Named chairs typically but not exclusively include a small discretionary fund from an endowment set aside for the chair's use.

Large research universities also offer a small fraction of tenured faculty the title of "Distinguished Professor" to recognize outstanding and broad contributions to the advancement of a field of study. The most prestigious academic appointment is the University or Institute Professor. Such faculty members are not usually answerable to deans or department heads and may directly report to the University Provost.

In research, faculty who direct a lab (1 to 30+ people) can be called Principal investigator, though this is not usually thought as an academic rank.

Temporary faculty and special appointments

Modifier	Example	Explanation
Adjunct	Adjunct Professor Adjunct Associate Professor Adjunct Assistant Professor	Indicates a part-time or temporary appointment; also may denote a faculty member from another academic department whose research or teaching interests overlap substantially with those of the appointing department.
Visiting	Visiting Professor Visiting Associate Professor Visiting Assistant Professor	Almost always indicates a temporary appointment, often to fill a vacancy that has arisen due to the sabbatical or temporary absence of a regular faculty member.
Research	Research Professor Research Associate Professor Research Assistant Professor	Indicates a full-time research position with few or no teaching responsibilities. Research professorships are almost always funded by grants or fellowships apart from the regular university budget.
Clinical	Clinical Professor Clinical Associate Professor Clinical Assistant Professor	Indicates a part-time nontenured teaching position with limited research responsibilities, especially in the health science; usually volunteer teaching students or residents, either in their office or on campus, with a minimum of 50-75 hours per year. At a law school, "clinical" professors may have highly variable teaching and research responsibilities, but generally supervise student pro bono law practice.
Emeritus	Professor Emeritus Associate Professor Emeritus Assistant Professor Emeritus	Indicates a retired faculty member, who is usually not paid a regular salary but often retains office space and access to the university's facilities.

The ranks of Lecturer and Senior Lecturer are used at some American universities to denote permanent teaching positions with few or no research responsibilities. At other American universities, the rank of Lecturer is equivalent to that of Instructor.

Other teaching and research personnel

Fellowships and Research Associate positions are most often limited-term appointments for postdoctoral researchers. They are not usually regarded as faculty positions, although some teaching may be required. The definition of scientist position is vague, but usually regarded as advanced level after research associate. Rank of research personnel without a professor title is:

• Senior Scientist
• Research Scientist
• Research Associate
• Postdoctoral Research Associate
• Research Assistance
• Senior Research Technicial

Teaching assistants are typically graduate students who have varying levels of responsibility. A typical undergraduate class, for example, comprises lecture and small-group sessions, with a faculty member giving the lecture, and teaching assistants leading the small-group sessions; in other cases, the teaching of an entire class may be entrusted to a graduate student. (See generally A Handbook for Mathematics Teaching Assistants, published by the Mathematical Association of America.)

At most American universities, research technicians, lab managers, and related personnel are generally regarded as administrative staff rather than faculty.

At some universities, librarians have a rank structure parallel to that of the regular faculty (Assistant Librarian, Associate Librarian, Librarian). Some senior librarians, and often the head librarian, may have faculty or faculty-equivalent rank.

Administrative ranks

Officers of the corporation

• President or Chancellor
• Provost (sometimes called 'Chancellor', or 'President' or 'Warden')
• Associate Provost (rare)
• Assistant Provost (assists the Provost, as do any associates; not superior to vice presidents)
• Vice-Chancellors or Vice Presidents (of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Finance, etc.)
• Associate Vice-Chancellor or Associate Vice President
• Assistant Vice-Chancellor or Assistant Vice President

Academic administrators

• Deans (often also Full Professors)
• Associate Deans (often also Full Professors)
• Assistant Deans
• Directors of Administrative Departments
• Associate/Assistant Directors of Administrative Departments
• Chairs or Heads of Academic Departments

America's system of higher education is highly variable, with each of the 50 states and the 6 non-state jurisdictions regulating its own public tertiary institutions, and with each private institution developing its own structure. In general, the terms "President" and "Chancellor" are interchangeable (like "Premier" and "Prime Minister"), including the vice presidents, associate and assistant vice presidents, and so on. The dominant paradigm is president, vice president, associate vice president, and assistant vice president.

Some university systems or multi-campus universities use both titles, with one title for the chief executive of the entire system and the other for the chief executives of each campus. In California, for example, the chief executive officer of the entire California State University system of 23 campuses is called "Chancellor" while the CEO of each individual campus is called "President" - so, there is an officer called "Chancellor of the California State University," and there is the "President of San Francisco State University." The University System of Maryland has a similar system. (See the University System of Maryland Bylaws.) In the University of California the terms are reversed - so there is the "President of the University of California", and below that person in the hierarchy is the "Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles", and so on.

The term 'Warden' is almost never used in the United States in an academic sense. Where it is used, it typically means "provost" or "dean".

Deans may head an individual college, school or faculty; or they may be deans of the student body, or a section of it (e.g., the dean of students in a law school); or they may be deans of a particular functional unit (e.g., Dean of Admissions, or Dean of Records); or they may be deans of a particular campus, or (unusually) of a particular building (e.g., a university with an elaborate performing arts complex might designate a very senior administrative faculty member as "Dean of the [Name] Performing Arts Center."

Academic department heads and chairs serve the same function, and there may also be associate and assistant department heads or chairs (though this is unusual). The term "Department Chair" usually indicates the administrator is elected to the post by the faculty of the department, while the term "Department Head" usually means the person is appointed by the dean without election by the faculty. The two are different positions in that one tends to serve as the discretion of the dean, and the other at the discretion of the faculty. A way to keep them in differentiated, is that the head rotates.

See Also

• Professors in the United States