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

What is the difference between assistant professor and associate professor?

• Answer:

  An Associate Professor is a higher position than a Assistant Professor. Educators who hold a formal title of "professor" (referred to as tenured/tenure-track faculty) typically begin their careers as assistant professors, with subsequent promotions to the ranks of associate professor and finally professor. There is usually a strict timeline for application for promotion from assistant to associate professor - usually 5 or 6 years following the initial appointment. Applicants are evaluated based on their contributions to research, teaching, and administration. Assistant professors who are granted tenure and promotion move to the rank of associate professor. This usually results in an increased administrative load and membership on committees that are restricted to tenured faculty. Some people remain at the level of associate professor throughout their careers. However, most will apply for the final promotion to full professor; the timeline for making this application is more flexible than that for assistant to associate positions and the associate professor does not normally lose his/her job if the application is rejected. The hierarchy: Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Lecturer Graduate Teaching Assistant Hope this helps.