What Do College Professors Make

Who Makes Good Adjunct Faculty

An effective adjunct professor is someone who is:

• A clear communicator who provides value-added comments and information to students
• Able to teach using real-world experience
• Able to confidently teach and present to a class of students
• Technologically savvy: can utilize email, a range of online learning systems, and other ways to communicate with students
• Passionate about specific academic fields and education in general
• An understanding of the use of curriculum design, pedagogy, and learning outcome alignment
• Successful in collaborating with colleagues

What Are Professors Like

Based on our pool of users, professors tend to be predominately artistic people. The work of professors is to teach and to conduct research. Both of these endeavors are artistic in their essence. Teaching must be creative or artistic in that one single, unwavering, approach will not reach every student. The goal of research to increase knowledge naturally encourages creative dialogue, discovery, and sometimes even drama.

Salary Of College Professors By State

The national average salary for college professors is $67,352 per year. In addition, the top salaries in each state are as follows:

• Alabama: $101,236 per year
• New Hampshire: $71,352 per year
• New Jersey: $73,512 per year
• New Mexico: $54,084 per year
• New York: $59,411 per year
• North Carolina: $77,242 per year
• North Dakota: $68,439 per year
• Ohio: $68,208 per year
• Rhode Island: $69,072 per year
• South Carolina: $59,806 per year
• South Dakota: $65,040 per year
• Tennessee: $55,034 per year
• West Virginia: $63,972 per year
• Wisconsin: $52,482 per year

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Community College Professor Salary By Location

Generally, the highest community college professor salary is with those junior colleges located on the east and west coasts of the U.S. The southeastern and mid-western states offer lower instructor salaries. The following list is a sampling of a community college teacher salary for several of these regions:

• New Mexico Military Institute: Roswell, New Mexico – $79,497
• Santa Barbara Community College: Santa Barbara, California – $84,668
• Kingsborough Community College: Brooklyn, New York – $101,214
• Genesee Community College: Batavia, New York – $70,236
• Fulton-Montgomery Community College: Johnstown, New York – $88,902
• Rend Lake College: Ina, Illinois – $64,818
• Berkshire Community College: Pittsfield, Massachusetts – $69,372
• Massachusetts Bay Community College: Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts – $71,370
• Cumberland County College: Vineland, New Jersey- $67,308
• Gloucester County College: Sewell, New Jersey- $85,185
• Georgia Military College: Milledgeville, Georgia- $39,456
• Victoria College: Victoria, Texas- $65,952

Teacher Vs Professor Salary Outlook

Salaries for both teachers and professors can and do vary widely. You could be a brand-new teacher working in a high needs school district in a socioeconomically challenged area or an adjunct professor with a part-time schedule and struggle to make ends meet, or you could be an experienced, National Board Certified Teacher or tenured professor and enjoy a salary that tops the salary scale.

In general, professors make about $20,000 more, on average, than teachers, although a number of factors influence what both educators earn.

As of May 2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the following median salaries for teachers and professors, according to grade level/setting:

• Elementary school teachers: $59,420
• Postsecondary teachers, junior colleges : $82,850
• Postsecondary teachers, junior colleges : $61,430
• Postsecondary teachers, colleges, universities and professional schools : $80,960
• Postsecondary teachers, colleges, universities and professional schools : $80,760

But these median salaries dont tell the whole story of what youll earn as a teacher or professor, as a number of factors affect what both teachers and professors can expect to earn:

Factors Affecting K-12 Teacher Salaries

According to the NCTQ, teachers with a masters degree earn an average of $5,285 more annually than teachers with a bachelors degree as their highest degree, which equates to about $160,000 more than a bachelors-prepared teacher over the course of a career.

• Lecturer: $65,335

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Employment Rates For Professors

Now, what about employment rates for professor jobs? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the projected growth rate for postsecondary teachers in the years 2019-2029 is 9%that’s 5% higher than the average rate of growth of 4%.

That said, most of this employment growth will be in part-time positions and not full-time ones. This means that most professor job openings will be those with the lowest salaries and lowest job security.

In addition, this job growth will vary a lot by field . The chart below shows the median salaries and projected growth rates for a variety of fields for college professors :

Source: BLS.gov

As this chart indicates, depending on the field you want to teach in, your projected employment growth rate could range from just 1% to as high as 23%.

The fastest growing college professor field is health. Nursing has a growth rate of 20%, and health specialties has the highest growth rate at 23%.

Law professors have the highest salary, with a median income of $113,530. On the opposite end, the lowest-earning field is criminal justice and law enforcement, whose professors make a median salary of $62,860that’s over $50,000 less than what law professors make.

Doctoral Degree In The Field You Want To Teach In

Most teaching positions at four-year colleges and universities require applicants to have a doctoral degree in the field they wish to teach in.

For example, if you’re interested in teaching economics, you’d likely need to get a PhD in economics. Or if you’re hoping to teach Japanese literature, you’d get a PhD in a relevant field, such as Japanese studies, Japanese literature, or comparative literature.

Doctoral programs usually take five to seven years and require you to have a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree.

But is it possible to teach college-level classes without a doctoral degree? Yesbut only at certain schools and in certain fields.

As the BLS notes, some community colleges and technical schools allow people with just a master’s degree to teach classes however, these positions can be quite competitive, so if you’ve only got a master’s degree and are up against applicants with doctorates, you’ll likely have a lower chance of standing out and getting that job offer.

In addition, some fields let those with just master’s degrees teach classes. For example, for creative writing programs, you’d only need a Master of Fine Arts.

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Culture And Work Environment: Being Part Of A College Vs K

Hands down, one of the starkest differences between teachers and professors is the environment in which they teach. The best way to describe these differences is this: K-12 is a teaching environment, whereas college is a learning environment. The years leading up to high school graduation are spent teaching children skills and proficiencies. Beyond high school, students are engaged in scholarship, which involves a deeper consideration of what theyve learned and how they will apply it.

Teacher Jobs At Every Level of the K-12 System Come with the Expectation That They Do It All

Lets first talk about teachers. If youre a teacher, chances are youre not just there to teach youre there to play the role of disciplinarian, motivator, eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head authoritarian. You may have students that need encouragement, praise, reinforcement, and support to get the work done, and you may spend a good part of your day doling out discipline and reminding students to pay attention. You wont just say something once youll find yourself repeating it constantly throughout the day: sit down pay attention get your book out sit still wheres your homework?

Professors Have a Lot to Handle, but the Freedom to Do It Their Own Way

In the halls of higher education, the culture is dramatically different. Students are willing participants in the learning process. Theyre adults who made the decision to pursue higher education, so theyre committed and engaged.

Zev Rosenwaks: $33 Million

Zev Rosenwaks is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cornell University and Director and Physician-in-Chief of the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College.

Dr. Rosenwaks received his M.D. from the SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn in 1972. He is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Dr. Rosenwaks is internationally renowned for his pioneering work in assisted reproduction. He was the director of the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, Virginia, the unit that achieved the first IVF pregnancy in the United States. He also developed the first egg donation program in the United States.

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Community College Teacher Job Description

Educating students effectively in the designated subject matter is paramount in this preparatory setting. Community college teachers must convey relevant information efficiently and help students learn the best methods of inquiry in the subject area of the course.

Students attending community colleges are diverse in every way age, race, ethnicity, ability, gender, and socioeconomic background. In addition to students just out of high school, many working adults attend community college courses as a means to change careers or progress in their present job.

The most important day-to-day duties of a community college teacher include:

• Teaching the material in one- to three-hour classroom sessions
• Developing and managing the class syllabus and ensuring that the syllabus meets department and college standards
• Planning and creating lectures, in-class discussions, and assignments
• Grading assigned papers, quizzes, and exams
• Assessing grades for students based on participation, performance in class, assignments, and examinations
• Reporting student learning outcomes, class reviews, and analyzing student data
• Collaborating with colleagues on course curriculum
• Advising students on how to be successful and achieve goals
• Staying updated on innovations and changes within their course field

Community colleges also have students who need remedial education, so teachers must be prepared to help their students catch up to the skill level needed to take on college-level coursework.

Should I Become A Professor

As is the case when considering any career, it is wise to listen to those who have gone before you, to insiders who speak from experience. Below is some practical information from a compilation of interviews and writings of several working professors.

Summer off? Not exactlyIf the lure of three months off in the summer, a month off at Christmas, and spring break is prominent in your mind as you contemplate becoming a professor, think again. While those breaks do, of course, exist, most professors spend them grading, preparing for the next semester, writing a paper to stay relevant in their field, or teaching an extra class. In the words of one professor: Its an all-year job with big chunks where you dont have to go into the office, but you still have to work.

Dont expect your students to be youMany professors admit to having been a nerd who loved school and reading and writing and history. Its important to realize that the majority of your students will not be as scholastically geared as you were and some may be total disasters. Most of them wont think like you. Some will skip class, blow off assignments, and then claim that they were not clearly told what was required. So, as a professor you have to find ways to discover what motivates each student. Your ultimate goal is to have every student be better at the end of the semester than they were at the beginning.

The best advice

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Average Salaries For Adjunct Faculty

Salary ranges for higher education adjunct professors vary widely, depending on the state, type of college, the discipline professors teach, and the professors education level, teaching experience, and field expertise. It can also be based on the degree held by the applicant.

According to ZipRecruiter,com, average annual pay for adjunct professors by state varies from $51,077 to $72,907. Compensation can sometimes be calculated on a per-course or hourly basis, ranging from $26 to $95 an hour.

Salaries also vary by institution type: Typically adjunct faculty earn higher pay in traditional four-year institutions, compared to those who work in community colleges.

Here is a snapshot of average annual salaries for adjunct faculty:

• Glassdoor.com: $35,839
• ZipRecruiter.com: $58,422

What Proportion Of University Academics Are Professors

In the UK, around one in ten university academics is a professor. Data provided by the UKs Higher Education Statistics Agency numbers professors employed in UK higher education institutions in 2015-2016 at 19,975, representing 9.9% of all academic staff. The UK-based professoriate suffers from gender imbalance of the 19,970 academics who, in 2015-16 were categorised by their institutions as professors, only 4,775 are recorded as female.

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Licenses Certifications And Registrations

Postsecondary teachers who prepare students for an occupation that requires a license, certification, or registration, may need to haveor may benefit from havingthe same credential. For example, a postsecondary nursing teacher might need a nursing license or a postsecondary education teacher might need a teaching license.

What Is The Salary Of A College Professor

On average, college professors earn between $40,480 and $$174,960, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2019 data. The gap between salaries of public and private college professors runs counter to that of the elementary and secondary roles, that is, professors at private colleges make on average $18,000 more.

Experience is an important factor for post-secondary educators. Most come to the role with more than 10 years of experience and are compensated up to $154,000 for that experience, depending on field and location. In order to teach at this level, a doctorate degree is required. Additional bonuses and income streams become available the more a professor researches and publishes.

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The 19 Steps To Becoming A College Professor

Other High School , College Info

Do you love conducting research and engaging with students? Can you envision yourself working in academia? Then you’re probably interested in learning how to become a college professor. What are the basic requirements for becoming a college professor? What specific steps should you take in order to become one?

In this guide, we start with an overview of professors, taking a close look at their salary potential and employment growth rate. We then go over the basic college professor requirements before giving you a step-by-step guide on how to become one.

Feature Image: Georgia Southern/Flickr

Salary Information For Postsecondary Teachers

Postsecondary teachers earned a median annual salary of $78,050 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the low end, postsecondary teachers earned a 25th percentile salary of $54,710, meaning 75 percent earned more than this amount. The 75th percentile salary is $114,710, meaning 25 percent earn more. In 2016, 1,314,500 people were employed in the U.S. as postsecondary teachers.

References

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Books & Study Material To Become Professor

Various books and study materials for a Professor is given below: –

• Becoming a Professor: A Guide to a Career in Higher Education by Marie K. Iding and R. Murray Thomas

• The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide To Turning Your PhD Into a Job by Karen Kelsky, P.h.D.

• So You Want To Be A Professor? A Handbook for Graduate Students by P. Aarne Vesilind

• How to Become a Professor by Stephen Jenkins

• So You Want to Be a Professor: How to Land Your Dream Job in Academia by Drew Boyd

College Professor Duties & Responsibilities

Becoming a college professor nearly always begins with a probationary position. Universities expect professors to distinguish themselves, to add value to their institutions and the educational experiences of their students. As such, established college professors duties include, but are not limited to:

• Applying the scientific method to all disciplines within their field
• Building a course curriculum
• Presenting research
• Leading and directing research in a specific field

Initially, adjunct professors or teaching assistants may be given a curriculum to follow. Very quickly, professors need to be able to establish their own curricula and teaching styles. As such, expectations for college professors are high, both from the administration and the student body.

Professors can pass their probationary period and earn tenure. As such, tenured professors have significant job security and are established experts in their field. Depending on the competitiveness of your educational field, you may have to teach as a non-tenured professor at more than one university before achieving tenure.

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How To Become A Professor: 19

Now that we’ve gone over the basic college professor requirements, what specific steps should you take to become one? What do you need to do in high school? In college? In graduate school?

Here, we introduce to you our step-by-step guide on how to become a college professor. We’ve divided the 19 steps into four parts:

Are You Suited To Be A Professor

Professors have distinct personalities. They tend to be social individuals, which means theyre kind, generous, cooperative, patient, caring, helpful, empathetic, tactful, and friendly. They excel at socializing, helping others, and teaching. Some of them are also artistic, meaning theyre creative, intuitive, sensitive, articulate, and expressive.

Does this sound like you? Take our free career test to find out if professor is one of your top career matches.

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Becoming A College Professor: Salary And Job Outlook

Before we dive into our discussion of salaries and employment growth rates, it’s important to be aware of the incredible challenge of becoming a college professor.

These days, it is unfortunately well known that the number of people qualified to be professors far outnumbers the availability of professor job openings, which means that the job market is extremely competitive. Even if you do all the steps below, the chances of your actually becoming a college professor are slimregardless of whether you want to teach in the humanities or sciences.

Now that we’ve gone over the current status of the professor job market, let’s take a look at some hard figures for salary and employment growth rate.