Assistant Professor vs Associate Professor vs Full Professor

On this episode of Navigating Academia, Dr. Singh discusses the most common form of the academic ladder found in North America which is assistant professor, associate professor and full professorship.

This is usually what's referred to as the tenure track because there's other kinds of being a professor.

What is an adjunct professor? An adjunct professor means that you essentially are a contractor. You come in and you're teaching one or a few classes but it's usually not your full-time gig.

There are people who just teach adjunct in courses across multiple universities to make their salary

What is a clinical professor? A clinical professor usually means that you're working in some kind of a practicum setting and if you are giving workshops and such it's not in the context of kind of a normal faculty member you're not gonna get tenure or anything like this.

What is a research professor? Research professors usually get compensated not by teaching and by students and tuition but rather by grants.

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ABOUT DR. SINGH

Jay Phoenix Singh, PhD, PhD is a Fulbright Scholar, faculty at both UPenn as well as Cambridge, and the internationally award-winning Founder of the Global Institute of Forensic Research (successful 2017 exit as CEO).

Author of over 75 peer-reviewed articles and books, he completed his graduate doctoral studies in psychiatry at the University of Oxford and clinical psychology at Universitat Konstanz. He was named the youngest tenured Full Professor in Norway in 2014 and, since this time, has become the only psychology professor to have lectured for all eight Ivy League universities (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn) as well as both Oxford and Cambridge. Dr. Singh is a charismatic academic mentor and coach who uses evidence-based practices to improve the lives of academics of all levels. #phdlife

[blinkk]

I'm an adjunct in the northeast (part-time, as I am a psychotherapist in private practice by trade) and wow(!) while I totally get cultural differences, it's ridiculous that person reported you to the supervisor. Some people in academia really have a narcissistic chip on their shoulder. My mindset toward academia is that I'm here to serve my students and my profession, not the other way around (esp. not to be worshipped). Thanks for the vid!

[srallen]

Thank you for the video. I found it enlightening. I am coming to the end of a 30 year career in national security and considering academia as an encore career. I doubt I will work long enough to make full professor, but should I get into a university, I'll better understand the strata of tenured professors now!

[חנןשושני]

Thank you so much for your great channel! In Israel we have another position: when you get the tuner track you are a Senior Lecturer, and few years after you can apply for Associate professor rank and of course full professor

[chenyuezhao]

It's a really helpful video for me! I just received my Master degree offer in biochemistry and molecular bio and planning on going into PhD. However, it really bother me before whether to be a professor or just be a researcher in a pharmaceutical company. After watching this video, it makes me understand my PI in the lab better and decide to do research in the company lol! Really appreciate the video!!!

[greatloverofmusic]

The publish or perish culture in the U.S. is bad for both the professors & students. Great video. Cheers.

[mrs.hardbazzi]

True. In my undergrad my Spanish professor wouldn't allow you to call her professor, she was doctora. The others didn't really care.

[thomaskneelandpoetry]

This is so awesome! Especially since I am preparing to apply to an MA/PhD program. I would love to connect with you Dr. Singh.

[Cyl]

Yes, yes, yes, make the video on the 10 years topic, please. We need all the videos that you can provide to us. In addition, could you make a video for those students, like myself, are adult learners (38+) and just started with this long but amazing career journey?
Thanks 👽♥️♥️♥️

[edenarlene]

I really appreciate this video. I am interested in this difference and how it looks in the UK and South Africa. I will be finishing up my doctorate by the end of the year. After spending 20 years as a teacher, the idea of starting from the very beginning of a new career in academia is unappealing. I have started submitting to journals now some of my research.

[charlesjacobi]

Loving this channel. Packed with information!

[jamaalharmon]

I could never be tenured anything because I need to keep it moving.

[jonathansjourney]

I really like the graduation music playing in the background because I graduate with my Masters in December and I plan on pursuing a PhD afterwards. I have a question in reference to achieving tenure/full professorship. I heard that when one of my professors was up for full professorship all the other full professors at the time voted no. However, the university accepted her and now that professor is a full professor. With that being said, when it comes to becoming a full professor/getting tenure, is it something where the university has the last say despite what other full professors/professors with tenure vote on?

[stephane]

I learned so much in this video, truly valuable. New Subscriber :)

[visuallanguage]

Q: Do you see this landscape as the same now as you did when this video was posted?

[studogable]

Thanks for this great video. One thing you did not touch on is the significance of endowed chairs: how does "endowed" status related to the assistant-associate-full professor line in terms of prestige and responsibility?

[arlenehenry]

Very informative. Very different from my country. I am doing a paper on comparing and contrasting the various professor appointments.

[ZamoraksApprentice]

Hey I'm from Belgium and was wondering if you could give me some advice on which traject I should be taking in becoming a professor.

We've got 2 different ones and I'm just not entirely sure which would be the best option for me:

1. Get a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology specialization in teaching, after which I'll go into an educative Masters of 2 years (each year prepares you for teaching later on). This will allow me to immediately become a professor at college level, though I'd have to find a free spot in academia for that. With this position, It'll allow me to get even more teaching experience in to put on my resume, while allowing me to study further for a PhD and become a professor at university level.

2. Get a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology specialization research, after which I'll go into a master of 2 years focused on research in my specialization (no teaching preparation). After this I'd still have to do a PhD to become a professor at university level. I'd graduate without any teaching experience, but with a PhD a few years earlier.

I'd really appreciate your input on this and thanks for the informative video, really enjoy your channel!

[iamtenrose]

Are there any tricks to getting hired directly as an associate professor instead of an assistant professor? (some context: MD physician in academic radiology with ~20-25 publications)

[lilikouremenos]

Can you do a video about when one is overqualified for Lecturer and Assistant Professor positions? If someone has, say, over 20 publications in top journals and a book or two, is that too much for these positions?

[tadiafoster]

Thank you for your channel. Great information 😊