How much are professors paid? • Hacker News Board

Re: How much are professors paid?

#11

Post by mock_twain » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #2

Something important to note when reading this is that at a university in the US, almost everyone is a professor. That's why these pay ranges are so wide - they include both very junior part-time staff and very senior world-class full-time staff.

Not entirely true - a growing number of PhD-holding faculty have labels like "lecturer" or "instructor", which are non-tenure-track and often contract based. Like in the public college system, this is leading to the majority of student contact hours being from faculty who don't have any permanent status within the university, and whose pay is far below even the junior professors.

Re: How much are professors paid?

#12

Post by Cyph0n » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:11 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #6

stingraycharles wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate a bit? I know that over here there are certain requirements (needs to teach classes, publish at least one paper a year). Is this different in the US?

In many countries a professor is usually extremely distinguished in their field, with perhaps twenty years' research experience, and you will only get a couple of them in each department, with some universities not having any. I think in the US everyone just automatically gets the title 'professor.'

The same ranks exist in the US:

1. Assistant Professor

2. Associate Professor

3. [Full] Professor

As far as I know, you should only use the title "Prof." to refer to a "full" professor, and "Dr." for assistant and associate professors. In reality, everyone is just referred to as a "professor".

Re: How much are professors paid?

#13

Post by jedberg » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:11 PM UTC

hyperpape wrote: post #7

chrisseaton wrote: post #2

Something important to note when reading this is that at a university in the US, almost everyone is a professor. That's why these pay ranges are so wide - they include both very junior part-time staff and very senior world-class full-time staff.

Almost everyone except the adjuncts, which might be a small number at some R1 institutions, but might be a lot more common elsewhere.

Their title is literally "adjunct professor". They would show up in this graph as "professor".

Re: How much are professors paid?

#14

Post by mock_twain » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

threwawasy1228 wrote: post #4

Not a very useful analysis, there are various levels of pay-grade and they all except the lowest ranks, often have 'professor' in their job titles. eg. Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Professor, Professor Emeritus, Visiting Professor, and sometimes Contract Professor.

Fair and balanced.

I spend all day doing useful analysis for science. On the internet, all I can hope for is doing mildly interesting work :D

Re: How much are professors paid?

#15

Post by jedberg » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:13 PM UTC

maththrowawtays wrote: post #8

stingraycharles wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate a bit? I know that over here there are certain requirements (needs to teach classes, publish at least one paper a year). Is this different in the US?

I believe in (some) American universities, any non-grad student who teaches a class is called a professor.

In the summer I had a grad student who was teaching the class as the primary teacher, and he was called "professor" (although I suspect his paycheck was just the standard grad check).

Re: How much are professors paid?

#16

Post by mock_twain » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:15 PM UTC

Cyph0n wrote: post #12

chrisseaton wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many countries a professor is usually extremely distinguished in their field, with perhaps twenty years' research experience, and you will only get a couple of them in each department, with some universities not having any. I think in the US everyone just automatically gets the title 'professor.'

The same ranks exist in the US: 1. Assistant Professor 2. Associate Professor 3. [Full] Professor As far as I know, you should only use the title "Prof." to refer to a "full" professor, and "Dr." for assistant and associate professors. In reality, everyone is just referred to as a "professor".

Exactly. Except I thought you should use "Prof" for anybody with Professor in their title.

My University also has a few other titles: Acting Prof, Research Prof, and of course Prof Emeritus

Re: How much are professors paid?

#17

Post by jxramos » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:16 PM UTC

mock_twain wrote: post #11

chrisseaton wrote: post #2

Something important to note when reading this is that at a university in the US, almost everyone is a professor. That's why these pay ranges are so wide - they include both very junior part-time staff and very senior world-class full-time staff.

Not entirely true - a growing number of PhD-holding faculty have labels like "lecturer" or "instructor", which are non-tenure-track and often contract based. Like in the public college system, this is leading to the majority of student contact hours being from faculty who don't have any permanent status within the university, and whose pay is far below even the junior professors.

These contact hours are further diluted with TA's shouldering a lot of the burden too.

Re: How much are professors paid?

#18

Post by SolaceQuantum » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:16 PM UTC

stingraycharles wrote: post #3

chrisseaton wrote: post #2

Something important to note when reading this is that at a university in the US, almost everyone is a professor. That's why these pay ranges are so wide - they include both very junior part-time staff and very senior world-class full-time staff.

Could you elaborate a bit? I know that over here there are certain requirements (needs to teach classes, publish at least one paper a year). Is this different in the US?

There are multiple 'professor' titles, but only one tenured faculty role. The tenured faculty is the holy grail, and everyone else is underpaid and overworked. [0]

You have instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. There's also such things as visiting professor (temporary postition) or professor emeritus (used to be a professor).

[0]. https://www.bu.edu/handbook/appointments-and-promotions/clas...

Re: How much are professors paid?

#19

Post by impendia » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:17 PM UTC

phw wrote: post #10

stingraycharles wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate a bit? I know that over here there are certain requirements (needs to teach classes, publish at least one paper a year). Is this different in the US?

You generally start as an assistant professor, which means you are on the tenure track but you don't yet have tenure. After several years, if you did well, you get promoted to associate professor, meaning that you got tenure. Finally, after some more years, you turn into a full professor, at which point you will likely earn the most. All three types are generally referred to as "professor" but they differ in their se…

Promotion from associate professor to professor is not automatic; indeed, there are several associate professors in my department who have been at that rank for some time, and seem unlikely to get promoted.

But it is reasonably common, unlike in (say) the UK.

Re: How much are professors paid?

#20

Post by cybersnowflake » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 6:18 PM UTC

Yup, 'professor' covers everything from adjuncts who are one step from freshly graduated grad students with the pay to match and eminent figures with entire departments under them and decades of connections.