Full-Time Teaching Staff, by Rank

Nearly half of all full-time instructional staff employed in 2015 at U.S. institutions of higher education worked at doctoral universities. Over all, employees with the rank of professor were the largest group among full-time instructional staff, representing just over a quarter of such staff. When counted together, however, full-time instructors, lecturers, and instructional staff with no academic rank exceeded the number of full-time professors.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store.

Doctoral universities

Subclassification	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Highest research activity	70,920	49,330	53,795	11,412	16,283	10,030	211,770
Higher research activity	20,363	21,458	19,522	6,962	7,038	3,051	78,394
Moderate research activity	9,747	10,382	10,238	2,914	3,269	1,488	38,038
Total	101,030	81,170	83,555	21,288	26,590	14,569	328,202

Master’s colleges and universities

Subclassification	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Larger programs	27,131	27,446	27,623	9,455	6,956	4,549	103,160
Medium programs	7,425	7,920	8,406	1,958	1,706	909	28,324
Smaller programs	3,112	3,712	4,146	1,104	753	159	12,986
Total	37,668	39,078	40,175	12,517	9,415	5,617	144,470

Baccalaureate colleges

Subclassification	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Arts and sciences focus	9,505	8,675	8,554	1,679	879	1,303	30,595
Diverse fields	4,180	4,930	6,573	2,124	671	1,034	19,512
Total	13,685	13,605	15,127	3,803	1,550	2,337	50,107

Baccalaureate/associate colleges

Subclassification	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Mixed baccalaureate/associate	1,229	1,341	1,457	2,130	105	1,436	7,698
Associate dominant	1,236	1,345	1,540	3,511	138	2,540	10,310
Total	2,465	2,686	2,997	5,641	243	3,976	18,008

Associate colleges

Subclassification	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
High transfer; high traditional students	3,681	2,906	3,331	9,655	1,370	2,407	23,350
High transfer; mixed traditional/nontraditional students	3,591	2,841	3,137	6,158	201	3,990	19,918
High transfer; high nontraditional students	1,136	635	915	2,263	126	1,610	6,685
Mixed transfer/career and technical; high traditional students	1,346	820	928	8,035	42	2,872	14,043
Mixed transfer/career and technical; mixed traditional/nontraditional students	1,534	897	1,088	4,608	4	4,096	12,227
Mixed transfer/career and technical; high nontraditional students	2,619	1,358	1,639	3,694	82	3,730	13,122
High career and technical; high traditional students	322	349	214	2,561	2	2,744	6,192
High career and technical; mixed traditional/nontraditional students	382	320	258	2,275	94	3,181	6,510
High career and technical; high nontraditional students	824	468	463	4,244	55	2,657	8,711
Total	15,435	10,594	11,973	43,493	1,976	27,287	110,758

Special-focus 2-year institutions

Subclassification	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Health professions	68	79	49	2,395	—	1,155	3,746
Technical professions	1	2	1	600	—	415	1,019
Arts and design	5	—	—	88	—	299	392
Other fields	48	25	29	459	2	230	793
Total	122	106	79	3,542	2	2,099	5,950

Special-focus 4-year institutions

Subclassification	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Faith-related institutions	1,298	556	546	467	114	270	3,251
Medical schools and centers	6,309	6,388	14,006	3,131	55	793	30,682
Other health-professions schools	964	1,313	2,250	1,562	699	809	7,597
Engineering schools	144	116	114	19	7	3	403
Other technology-related schools	27	31	74	373	—	24	529
Business and management schools	188	210	132	37	59	392	1,018
Arts, music, and design schools	1,336	672	580	1,414	22	1,339	5,363
Law schools	644	239	130	47	8	48	1,116
Other special-focus institutions	249	162	182	57	—	199	849
Total	11,159	9,687	18,014	7,107	964	3,877	50,808

Tribal colleges

	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Number	3	24	36	708	8	116	895

No classification

	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Number	634	848	1,063	1,184	210	896	4,835

All institutions

	Professors	Associate professors	Assistant professors	Instructors	Lecturers	No academic rank	Total
Total	182,201	157,798	173,019	99,283	40,958	60,774	714,033

Note: Data represent full-time instructional staff at degree-granting institutions in the United States that have 15 or more employees and that participate in Title IV federal financial-aid programs. Institutions are grouped by their 2015 Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education. Instructional staff can include, in addition to faculty members, nonfaculty members who are primarily involved in instruction, among them adjuncts and some postdoctoral students. Part-time employees are excluded. “No academic rank” indicates instructional staff members who are not assigned standard academic ranks. More data are available at nces.ed.gov/ipeds/Home/UseTheData.

Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data

Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Rank and Carnegie Classification, Fall 2015