Other professors

Some other uses of the title professor:

• Professor as an honorary title: In some countries using the German-style academic system (e.g. Austria, Finland, Sweden), Professor is also an honorific title that can be bestowed upon an artist, scholar, etc., by the President or by the government, completely independent of any actual academic post or assignment.
• Gymnasialprofessor (High School Professor): Senior teachers at certain senior high schools in some German states and in Austria were also designated Professor in the late 19th and early 20th century. In Austria, tenured high school teachers are still called Professor. However, it is unclear whether Austrian high school teachers starting their career today will have equally easy access to tenure when they become older.

Russia

In Russia the university academic career to the rank of Professor usually starts right after graduation. A graduate student can be recruited as an Assistant (teacher) without having any formal academic degree. The only requirement is to graduate as a Master of Science or as a Specialist (a specific Russian form of graduation after 5–6 years of study). Usually, (but not obligatory) the newly recruited Assistant goes through his PhD course, combining it with teaching undergraduate students (usually Assistants have a right to give lectures and examine students in small special courses, or, they assist a professor, who is reading a general course. In that case they teach students at laboratory works, test their knowledge, etc.). After 3 or 4 years of PhD course an Assistant defends a dissertation. The preparation for the "defense" includes writing thesis (approximately 150-200 pages), which presents the results of his/her own research work, done under a supervision of a professor. Several papers on the topic should be also published in Russian scientific journals accredited by VAK (see below). Finally, to be able to defend the thesis one should pass 3 exams: in his field of science, in foreign language and in history and philosophy of science. The defense itself is an official procedure and includes presenting the thesis to the Dissertation Council – several professors, including at least an appointed reviewer, two official opponents and the supervisor, who helped the Assistant in conducting his/her research. After the presentation the professors vote, and decide whether to recommend/not to recommend the dissertant to the rank of Candidate of Science. The right for final decision belongs to the VAK (governmental commission, granting official academic ranks), but it usually follows the recommendation of the Dissertation Council. In rare cases the dissertant can be called to go through the defense in VAK. At last a person is granted with a title "Candidate of Science" (Russian = кандидат наук), which cannot be dismissed.

As soon as the Assistant gets the title he/she usually goes to the post of Senior assistant, which does not differ very much. But if the Assistant had already written as many as 10 scientific papers and developed some educational materials he/she can get the rank of Docent. A Docent has a right to give lectures in some general courses and to examine students alone. Most academic careers finish at this stage. To go further one should write the second thesis, something very close to Habilitation in Germany. The second thesis is a very big research work, which often takes more than 10 years to be completed. The thesis is not limited in volume, but typically is around 300 pages, though some thesis which exceed 1000 pages. It generally requires fundamental research or a new research direction in a particular field. It can be a summary of the candidate's previous research, but should be of significant scientific, cultural, or social value. Another requirement is to have a large number of publications and a monograph. In some cases a monograph can work as a thesis if not too narrow in research.

The procedure of "defense" is similar, and at the end VAK grants one the title of Doctor of Science (Russian = доктор наук). The title gives a person the right to supervise PhD students, and to apply for the rank of Professor. The rank of Professor also requires a number of papers, books and educational works. The number of graduate students, and, if there are such, PhD students who passed through the defense successfully is also taken into account, but usually by the time a person gets the Doctor of Science title, he/she has accomplished a lot. The rank of Professor is exceedingly rarely achieved at the age of less than 40. This rank gives one the right to hold a faculty chair position, to be an examiner, to take part in the university's council, etc. However, in Russia, holders of the Doctor of Science degree who work at research institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and are not involved in teaching students (lecturing) but mainly in scientific or technological research, may also apply for a "Professor in a specialty" academic degree. Thus, there are two kinds of 'Professor' titles. First, there is "Professor by a Chair" (Russian = профессор по кафедре); e.g., "Professor by the Chair of Microbiology", if the scientist has some required minimum of teaching hours per semester at this Chair at a university or a higher institute, plus scientific publications and published educational papers, and has been nomineed by this Chair for the Professor title to VAK. Second, there is "Professor in a specialty" (Russian = профессор по специальности); e.g., "Professor in physical chemistry" (the list of specialties is the same as for dissertations). In this case, a person who has been holding a DSc degree for minimum 1 year (and has been working on a position of Head of Laboratory or Leading Scientist for minimum 1 year) does not need to have lecturing experience and published educational papers but should have a minimum of 5 PhD students who, under his/her supervision, have successfully defended their Cand. Sci. dissertations, in which this specialty either was the main or, in part of them, constituted a substantial part of their research work in a closely related field. Besides that, the applicant should have a good record of scientific publications and other academic achievements. The Learned Council of the Institute where the applicant for such a Professor title works, upon his/her primary application to this Council, votes and decides whether to recommend or not to recommend to apply on behalf of the applicant to VAK. If approved by the Learned Council, the application is submitted to VAK which, usually within a few months, decides whether to approve or not to approve the title "Professor" in the specialty.

Faculty

In North American English, faculty is the academic staff of a university: senior teachers, lecturers, and/or researchers. The term is most commonly used in this context in the United States and Canada, and generally includes professors of various rank: assistant professors, associate professors, and (full) professors, usually tenured (or tenure-track) in terms of their contract of employment.

Members of university administration (e.g., department chairs, deans, vice presidents, presidents, and librarians) are often also faculty members, in many cases beginning (and remaining) as professors. In some universities, the distinction between 'academic faculty' and 'administrative faculty' is made explicit by the former being contracted for nine months per year, meaning that they can be absent from the campus during the summer vacation, while the latter are contracted for twelve months per year. These two types of faculty status are sometimes known as 'nine month faculty' and 'twelve month faculty'.

Most university faculty members hold a Ph.D. or equivalent doctorate degree. Some professionals or instructors from other institutions who are associated with a particular university (e.g., by teaching some courses or supervising graduate students) but do not hold professorships may be appointed as adjunct faculty.

Other than universities, some community colleges and secondary or primary schools use the terms faculty and professor to describe their instructors, but this does not hold the same status as a professor in a university. Other institutions (e.g., teaching hospitals) may likewise use the term faculty.

In North America, faculty is a distinct category from staff, although members of both groups are employees of the institution in question. This is distinct from, for example, the British usage, in which all employees of the institution are staff, of two types, on open-ended and fixed-term contracts.

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