Since we have already decoded ambiguous higher ed job titles, let's take a look at faculty job titles. Faculty titles can look deceptively similar: assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. They all teach, right? These variations all describe different positions with different expectations, career progression, and benefits. Faculty titles have nuanced differences that the uninitiated eye can easily gloss over.

Those nuances aren't semantic; they're important role descriptions about workload and job security. Now let's get up to speed on the most common faculty positions posted on HigherEdMilitary, how to decode the title, what the day-to-day work looks like, and which of your military skills translate. Titles can vary by institution, so the best way to decode any faculty posting is to look for the appointment type (tenure-track vs. non-tenure-track), the workload (1 .0 full-time equivalent [FTE] vs. 1.0 < FTE vs. per-course/per-term, and the primary duty (teaching vs. research).

What is FTE? Full-time equivalent is how institutions describe workload as a fraction of full-time employment. A 1.0 FTE role is equivalent to a full-time role. Anything less than 1.0 FTE is a part-time role, even if the posting doesn't explicitly say part-time.

Tenure-track: Assistant, associate, or professor; includes instructing, research/scholarship, and committee service. These roles provide a high level of job security once tenure is achieved.

Non-tenure-track: Lecturer, instructor, senior instructor; primarily teaching appointments.

Adjunct: Hired per course/term to teach specific classes; minimal service and committee expectations.

Affiliate/associated: Non-tenure-track faculty, typically employed elsewhere.

Once you know the patterns to look for, the differences are hard to miss. Let's decode common faculty titles from HigherEdMilitary, their day-to-day responsibilities, which of your military skills apply, and the resume keywords that will show you're a good fit.

1. Assistant Professor

Translation: Often the first tenure-track position those with previous teaching and instructing experience apply for.

Day-to-day: Teaches courses, mentors students, applies for funding, serves on department committees, and publishes and presents work.

Military skills: Training planning, project execution, leadership, mentoring.

Resume keywords: tenure-track, curriculum development, publication, grant writing, committee service.

2. Associate Professor

Translation: Mid-career faculty are usually awarded tenure after a successful review.

Day-to-day: Teach courses, advise/mentor students, sustain a record of publishing/presenting, leadership roles in departmental committees, and mentor junior faculty.

Military skills: Leadership, strategic planning, mentorship, program improvement.

Resume keywords: tenure-track, mentoring, program development, publications, committee leadership.

3. Postdoctoral Fellow/Associate/Researcher

Translation: Non-tenure, research position for doctoral degree holders.

Day-to-day: Conducts research under a principal investigator, writes research proposals, mentors research students, and publishes and presents research.

Military skills: Subject matter expert, troubleshooting, documentation, leading small teams, collaboration.

Resume keywords: postdoctoral scholar, research fellow, experimental design, publications, mentoring, grant proposal writing, data analysis.

4. Affiliate Instructor

Translation: A non-tenure earning instructor primarily employed in another role or institution who supports instruction or a program.

Day-to-day: Guest teacher or teach occasional sections, supervise clinical/practicum experiences, and contribute specialized expertise to a department.

Military skills: Liaison work, professional expertise, mentoring, real-world application of skills.

Resume keywords: affiliate faculty, affiliated instructor, clinical/practicum supervision, partnerships, mentoring, experiential learning.

5. Senior Instructor

Translation: Advanced teaching-track faculty with track record of teaching excellence; non-tenure-track.

Day-to-day: Instruct and design courses, improve curriculum, and mentor junior instructors.

Military skills: Master instructor, training leadership, curriculum management, mentoring.

Resume keywords: senior, teaching excellence, curriculum leadership, course development, mentoring, instructional innovation.

6. Full-time Instructor

Translation: Non-tenure-track teaching faculty appointment, primarily responsible for instructing.

Day-to-day: Teach a full instructional load, develop/revise courses, advise/mentor students, and participate in department committees.

Military skills: Instructional leadership, operational planning, mentoring, process improvement.

Resume keywords: full-time, teaching faculty, course development, advising, program support.

7. Lecturer

Translation: Non-tenure-track teaching faculty that are primarily responsible for instructing.

Day-to-day: Teaches a higher course load than tenure-track faculty, revises and coordinates courses, and advises/mentors students.

Military skills: Training program design, delivering instruction, continuous improvement, mentorship.

Resume keywords: teaching faculty, course coordination, curriculum revision, student advising, teaching evaluation, pedagogical development.

8. Adjunct Faculty

Translation: Non-tenure-track faculty for specific courses (per-term or per-course).

Day-to-day: Instruct assigned classes, grade student assignments, and hold office hours for students.

Military skills: Planning, classroom instruction, subject matter expert.

Resume keywords: per-course appointment, course instruction, learning outcomes, learning management systems (Canvas/Blackboard).

9. Part-time Faculty

Translation: Non-tenure-track faculty with a less than FTE instruction load.

Day-to-day: Instructs courses, mentors students; fewer duties compared to full-time faculty.

Military skills: Delivering instruction under constraints, communication, subject-matter expertise.

Resume keywords: part-time, contingent faculty, term appointment, course delivery, student engagement.

10. Part-time Instructor

Translation: Non-tenure-track instructor hired on a per-course/per-semester basis.

Day-to-day: Teach assigned classes, grade assignments, and hold office hours for students.

Military skills: Instruction, accountability, clear standards, communication, assessment-based feedback.

Resume keywords: part-time instructor, per-course, classroom teaching, student support.

Do 'adjunct faculty,' 'part-time faculty,' and 'part-time instructor' all sound similar? That's because they are! Those are different labels for the same non-tenure-track teaching work. To get a better idea of what these positions entail, review the posting to see whether they pay per course/per term or on an FTE basis.

Keywords for Your Application

Still finding yourself thinking, what's the big deal? They're all teachers. Here are a few practical keywords to look for when reading faculty job postings:

- Tenure-track vs non-tenure-track/term

- FTE vs non-FTE

- Teaching load expectations

- Research vs instruction

When preparing your resume, be sure to use the posting's language: teaching: courses/taught/outcomes/assessments; scholarship: publications/presentations/grants; and service: committees/outreach/leadership.

Remember, your military experience does translate: training, leadership, and mission execution equals curriculum, assessment, advising/mentoring, program development, and time-sensitive communication.

Article Topics