Any U.S. College professors here?

[Divinus Arma]

I am currently working on my Master of Business Administration in International Business. I would like to teach a couple of college intro business courses part time when I am finished.

Anyway, I have a couple of questions if there are any college profs here. I know we have a couple at EB, but I thought I would ask here too.

[Hurin_Rules]

I'm a Canadian U. prof, would that count?

[aw89]

There is at least one history prof here, I don't remember who though.

[Pindar]

I'm a Canadian U. prof, would that count?

No.

[Divinus Arma]

I'm a Canadian U. prof, would that count?

I don't know. How similar are U.S. and Canadian higher education systems?


Here is a couple of questions. I have known a few college professors who taught with only a Masters degree in the subject matter. How common is this? Also, I am sure that some profs teach part time. How does the pay sytsem work for part timers? Also, how much could I expect to boost my salary if I taught part time with the PhD?


My goal is to teach Associates level business courses through an online format part-time. I just have no idea what to expect!


Any help out there would be great!

[Brutus]

I have known a few college professors who taught with only a Masters degree in the subject matter.

Is that possible in the USA? Then I don't suppose the term 'professor' means the same in America as it does here...

Edit: or is there a difference between "college professor" and "university professor"?

[Red Peasant]

The holding of a PhD has become a requisite condition only in fairly recent times for those holding university positions as lecturers and professors, at least in the humanities subjects. Lots of the old school profs/lecturers here in Britain dont have a PhD, as an Oxbridge degree was normally sufficient in the old days, or a very high reputation for scholarship if holding a degree from another university.

Times have changed though.

[Divinus Arma]

I think it depends on the school and the subject. I had sociology, accounting, and finance instructors who all held only Masters degrees. I think my Intro to Business Law course was taught by a Masters equivalent rather than a Doctoral equivalent as well. Perhaps others, but I can't remember.

I know it is possible, but I do not know how prevalent.


edit: I think some colleges and universities use terminology subordinate to a full professorship. I have heard terms such as associate professor, instructor, and others to designate a "less than" professor.

[Red Peasant]

The vast majority of university teachers here in Britain are prosaically termed lecturers or senior lecturers. Professorships are few and prestigious, where you hold a chair in some subject. It was strange when I was studying in Italy because even the lowliest school teachers are deferentially called professore. You could move to bella Italia and become a professor immediately ;)

[Brutus]

Ah, so it would seem terminology is indeed different... Although "professor" isn't a 'protected title' in the Netherlands (meaning that everyone in effect may call himself 'professor'), it is usually only given to those with a doctoral degree who hold a chair, the so-called 'Hoogleraren' ('High-teachers'). In university only 'Hoogleraren' are called 'professor'. (So, for example, though the department of Medieval History at my university hold 5 people with a doctoral degree, only one of them holds the chair of Medieval History and is therefore 'professor' (Professor doctor, to be exact), whilst the others are just 'doctor'.)

[Hurin_Rules]

Yes, the European and North American systems are very different (the Canadian is essentially the same as the American in this regard).

In North America, there are essentially three grades of professors: Assistant profs (those without tenure, generally); associate profs (higher up on the food chain, usually with tenure); and full profs (usually granted after many years and significant publications.

As was remarked above, the old days of people being professors without Ph.d's are rapidly ending. Almost all tenured or tenure-track positions now require a Ph.d. Those who don't have a ph.d. and are teaching you classes are usually either:

1. Graduate students working on a phd but who don't have it yet.
2. Instructors on a temporary contract filling gaps in a department's regular roster of professors.

Now, you may find that the older system still prevails in some of the community colleges (or 'colleges', as we call them in Canada, to distinguish them from Universities). That may be a viable option for you. But if you hope teach permanently at a university, you need a phd.

And the pay for temporary teaching assignments is usually crap.

[Hurin_Rules]

No.

Quiet you, or I'll have to get out my hockey stick.

[Divinus Arma]

The pay is crap? What would you consider to be the high end of crap?

I'm talking part-time here. If it were an accelerated online format, I would only take on 1 or 2 classes max. If it were a traditional length online format, maybe 3 classes at most.

[Hurin_Rules]

I'm not sure about online instruction, but here in Canada it is rare for a professor on a temporary contract to make more than $4,000 to $5,000 a course. The courseload for a regular professor runs anywhere from 4/year to 8/year. If you do the math, that's not a very high salary. Then again, if you're just looking to earn some extra cash on the side, it might be fine for you.

Good luck!

[Divinus Arma]

I'm not sure about online instruction, but here in Canada it is rare for a professor on a temporary contract to make more than $4,000 to $5,000 a course. The courseload for a regular professor runs anywhere from 4/year to 8/year. If you do the math, that's not a very high salary. Then again, if you're just looking to earn some extra cash on the side, it might be fine for you.

Good luck!

Is that Canadian $ or U.S. $?

Sounds good for part time.

[Hurin_Rules]

Is that Canadian $ or U.S. $?

Sounds good for part time.

That's Canadian dollars, though I imagine the rates are comparable in US dollars.

I'm not sure how much effort it would take for you to teach a course, but it can be quite a lot (especially the first time you teach it). Most courses have three class hours a week, and it can take anywhere from about 12 to 24 hours to write the lectures themselves (the first time). After that, you're basically just prepping by rereading the notes each time you re-teach it-- I usually find that it takes about an hour or two to prep for every hour of class time. So, once you're teaching a class for the second time, maybe only 3-6 hours of prep and 3 hours of class time. Then you've got marking to do, and office hours for your students to stop by an ask questions. That's all for one class.

If I hadn't gotten tenure and kept doing temporary stuff full time, I'd probably have chosen a different career. But since I do have tenure and get paid pretty well now, I absolutely love my job. Sometimes I still can't believe I get paid for reading/researching/teaching medieval history all day. It's just that the temporary/sessional/term position thing would not be for me, as it is too much work for too little pay.

Anyway, that's my experience; if you're cool with that, go for it.

Cheers

[Divinus Arma]

Good info. I appreciate it. Ideally, I'll be signing on with a very well paid fire department in the next 18 months, since I scored very very well and have an advantage because of my military background. Well, that job is only a 56 hr week, with much of it spent asleep. I mean, it is only 11 days a month! So, I would like to take that extra free time and put it to use doing the teaching thing.

Working overtime pays well enough, but I see the salaries some of you college Prof big shots make.

I think the two together could be very nice indeed. And I think I would enjoy doing both. I'm kind of a workaholic, with a 54 hour active duty work week, full time graduate student, and taking a second job substituting high school two-three days a week. Luckily my wife's dad was/is a workaholic so she's content and accustomed with the guy working his butt off to bring home the money.