Usual titles

Lecturer, instructor, adjunct lecturer, faculty specialist, clinical professor

Assistant professor, associate professor, full professor

Employment

Full-time or part-time

Full-time; sometimes part-time but temporarily

Usual contract length and performance reviews

Full-time: 9-12 month contract; renewed annually depending on teaching needs and budget; annual performance reviews.

Part-time: term contract (per semester) to teach 1-2 courses; renewed each semester depending on teaching needs/budget.

Non-tenure contracts are subject to budget constraints and teaching needs.

9-month contract (fall and spring); continuously renewed (i.e., except for assistant professors who may have contract termination at year 2, 4, or 6 tenure review); annual performance reviews.

Tenured faculty can be disciplined or fired only for a cause.

Compensation

Salary (i.e., full-time positions) or payment per course (i.e., adjunct or part-time positions).

Salary

Compensation in accounting field

Full-time:

Under $100,000 per year salary.

Most lecturers earn $50,000 - $70,000 depending on location, institution, and qualifications.

Part-time:

$1,000 - $5,000 per course

More than $100,000 per year salary. Some professors also receive endowment compensation.

Fringe benefits

Full-time: offered; may be offered professional development funds.

Part-time: usually not offered; may be offered professional development funds.

Offered. Usually full-time tenure-track faculty are offered health insurance, retirement, and professional development funds.

Course load (full-time position)

Depends on institution.

The load is often 4 - 4:

4 classes in the fall and 4 classes in the spring.

Depends on institution.

The load is often 4 - 4:

4 classes in the fall and 4 classes in the spring.

Institutions with high expectations for research often grant “release time” to faculty to do research (or administrative work). For example, an assistant professor may have a 3-0 or 0 -3 load.

Expectations (work hours)

Full-time: 40 hours per week

Part-time: 9-18 hours per week.

Both full-time and part-time lecturers often teach during the summer.  

40 hours per week (teaching, research, and service).

Many professors work 40+ hours per week (often 50-60 hours per week). Also, even though professors have 9-month contracts, they usually work on research projects during the summer (with no compensation) and some teach during the summer for extra pay.

Time commitment (example)

Full-time (4-4 load):

12 hours class time + 24 hours prep time + 4 hours office hours and other work = 40 hours per week.

Part-time (one 3 credit-hour course):

3 hours class time + 6 hours prep time = 9 hours per week + extra

(e.g., $3,500 per course ÷ 135 hours per semester = $25.93 per hour, before taxes; often though, instructors need to spend time helping students; effectively instructors usually earn less than $20 per hour)

Full-time (4 – 4 load):

12 hours class time + 24 hours prep time + 4 hours office hours, advising and admin work + 20 hours research work = 60 hours per week