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

Almanac 2017 August 13, 2017

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.

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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.


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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

A version of this article appeared in the August 18, 2017, issue.
Read other items in The Profession.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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