What is the difference between Assistant Professor, Associate
Professor, Professor and Professor Emeriti?

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Here are the differences.

1. Assistant Professor - "Indicates tenure-track appointments of 
individuals who hold the terminal degree in their discipline. This is
the usual entry-level faculty rank."

2. Associate Professor - "In addition to the qualifications of an
Assistant Professor, Associate Professors have established a strong
reputation in scholarship and teaching.  Generally, faculty hired as
Assistant Professors are promoted to the rank of Associate Professor
at the time tenure is granted."

3. Professor - "In addition to the qualification of an Associate
Professor, "full" Professors have demonstrated superior research
contributions, have attained wide recognition in their professional
fields for scholarship or other creative activity, and have gained
recognition as teachers and contributors in their fields."

4. Emeriti Professor - "Emeritus status can be awarded to tenured
faculty who retire after long and distinguished service. The
designation is honorary. By analogy, extended-term academic
professionals may be eligible for emeritus status upon retirement.
(Emeritus=masculine, emerita=feminine, emeriti=plural.)"

"GLOSSARY OF PERSONNEL TERMS"
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/AcadAffairs/PolicyStatements/personnel_terms.htm#Assistant%20Professor


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Thanks...Exactly what I was looking for.  Kudos to dancethecon for further comments.

Hi, princessamber,

Easterangel's definitions are good, but you might like to know some
exceptions. If a college or university wants to hire someone badly
enough, the new hire might skip one or two of the lower professorship
ranks. Few will skip both assistant and associate, but it's happened.
It's not rare, though, for someone to apply directly for an associate
professorship. This person might have been an assistant professor at
another institution (maybe even non-tenure track); an older, highly
talented postdoctoral researcher; or maybe an experienced researcher
who's worked in industry instead of academia. It can be part of the
negotiating process.

Easterangel's definition of an associate professor includes the
statement that associate professors "have established a strong
reputation in scholarship and teaching." That's the most common
associate professorship. But there are professorships where the
professor does only research. In other words, no teaching. These
people are most commonly found in the sciences, and they're still
rare. What's more common are scientists who have been hired as
assistant or associate professors who are allowed to go years without
teaching, so they can build their labs and earn grant money (a good
chunk of which goes immediately to the university's bank account).
After the years-long break-in period, these scientists gradually take
on a partial teaching load. Most research professors teach at least a
small load.

Sometimes a professor might be hired and the university puts the
person to work somewhere else. I know a scientist who was hired as a
full professor and his job was to head a university-owned technology
firm. This man got a full lab on campus and everything that came with
it, but his full-time job was running the off-campus subsidiary
company. He had postdocs doing the everyday stuff in the on-campus
lab.

There's another type of professorship you might like to explore:
distinguished professor. You can read what one university says about
it here
http://www.pitt.edu/~facaffs/distinguished.html

dtc