Adjunct professors are instructors who are employed on a contractual basis, commonly in part-time positions. They teach courses in the same manner as full-time professors do, but they are free from some of the duties of those fully employed university instructors or in tenure-track positions. They create, develop, distribute, review, and manage course syllabus materials. They teach students, evaluate their performance, and maintain records of attendance, engagement, and progress. They may also facilitate lectures, conduct seminars, and do other administrative tasks within the department. Most adjunct professors enjoy teaching as part-time because they have more flexibility in terms of schedule, can avoid the dilemma of the higher education system and it's known to be less stressful and demanding.

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Adjunct Professor Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real adjunct professor resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Lead outreach to community and statewide stakeholders in the PPCC entrepreneurship program.
  • Develop and prepare class syllabus and teaching materials for strategic management, business and government ethics, and organizational behavior classes.
  • Provide instruction/guidance for nursing students; deliver didactic lectures on human anatomy and physiology.
  • Identify course objectives, design syllabus, develop all instructional activities and materials, including written exams.
  • Facilitate courses in communications, economics, leadership, management, corporate finances, strategic planning and organizational behavior.
  • Develop and teach course curriculum on the subject of exercise science and clinical pharmacology to athletic training students.
  • Enforce student-centered philosophy in support of academic excellence.
  • Present guest speakers regarding topics in psychology and sociology.
  • Teach pharmacology & toxicology course to nursing undergraduate students.
  • Provide instruction in sociology and psychology classes to undergraduate students.
  • Provide academic support and supervision to engineering students in the chemistry lab.
  • Facilitate on-line classroom discussions, forums, and collaboration learning via portals and blackboard
  • Provide meaningful mathematics to non-traditional students, through integrative lesson planning and assessment strategies.
  • Maintain academic integrity by upholding the ethics and principle guidelines mandate by the university.
  • Design and execute specialized language courses physiology, nutrition, dentistry, and ophthalmology.

Adjunct Professor Job Description

Between the years 2018 and 2028, adjunct professor jobs are expected to undergo a growth rate described as "much faster than average" at 11%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So if the thought "should I become an adjunct professor?" Has crossed your mind, maybe you should take the growth rate into account. In addition, the number of adjunct professor opportunities that are projected to become available by 2028 is 155,000.

On average, the adjunct professor annual salary is $98,821 per year, which translates to $47.51 an hour. Generally speaking, adjunct professors earn anywhere from $44,000 to $219,000 a year, which means that the top-earning adjunct professors make $136,000 more than the ones at the lower end of the spectrum.

Once you've become an adjunct professor, you may be curious about what other opportunities are out there. Careers aren't one size fits all. For that reason, we discovered some other jobs that you may find appealing. Some jobs you might find interesting include a faculty, language teacher, social studies teacher, and faculty member.

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12 Adjunct Professor Resume Examples

Adjunct Professor Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 11% of Adjunct Professors are proficient in Course Curriculum, Syllabus, and Semester. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Speaking skills, and Writing skills.

We break down the percentage of Adjunct Professors that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Course Curriculum, 11%

    Developed course curriculum for COM001 Survey of Mass Communication.-Lectured college students weekly.-Assigned and graded work to develop students' communication skills.

  • Syllabus, 8%

    Provide instructions to seminary students in Contextual Ministry including development of syllabus, inclusive of reading materials and placement sites.

  • Semester, 6%

    Develop classes for Hospitality Management Program Instruct students in Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Teach semester long classes on wine education

  • Blackboard, 4%

    Facilitate weekly online and campus based college-level courses covering all facets of Accountancy utilizing the Web based Blackboard Learning Management System.

  • Student Learning, 4%

    Conduct undergraduate lectures to facilitate student learning, challenge students, encourage participation and attendance, and communicate ideas effectively.

  • Course Materials, 4%

    Foster effective delivery and reception of course materials through regular student interaction and periodic assessment of student response and academic performance.

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Most adjunct professors list "course curriculum," "syllabus," and "semester" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important adjunct professor responsibilities here:

  • Arguably the most important personality trait for an adjunct professor to have happens to be interpersonal skills. An example from a resume said this about the skill, "most postsecondary teachers need to be able to work well with others and must have good communication skills to serve on committees and give lectures." Additionally, other resumes have pointed out that adjunct professors can use interpersonal skills to "revised interpersonal communications course content and activities. "
  • Another trait important for fulfilling adjunct professor duties is speaking skills. According to a adjunct professor resume, "postsecondary teachers need good verbal skills to give lectures." Here's an example of how adjunct professors are able to utilize speaking skills: "collaborated with faculty to develop course content and presented science curriculum to post-secondary students. "
  • Another skill that is quite popular among adjunct professors is writing skills. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a adjunct professor resume: "postsecondary teachers need to be skilled writers to publish original research and analysis." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "advanced computer statistical analysis and report writing/ intro to sociology"
  • See the full list of adjunct professor skills.

    After discovering the most helpful skills, we moved onto what kind of education might be helpful in becoming an adjunct professor. We found that 49.0% of adjunct professors have graduated with a bachelor's degree and 33.3% of people in this position have earned their master's degrees. While most adjunct professors have a college degree, you may find it's also true that generally it's impossible to be successful in this career with only a high school degree. In fact, our research shows that one out of every nine adjunct professors were not college graduates.

    Those adjunct professors who do attend college, typically earn either business degrees or psychology degrees. Less commonly earned degrees for adjunct professors include education degrees or english degrees.

    When you're ready to become an adjunct professor, you might wonder which companies hire adjunct professors. According to our research through adjunct professor resumes, adjunct professors are mostly hired by Grand Canyon University, Liberty University, and Cincinnati State. Now is a good time to apply as Grand Canyon University has 65 adjunct professors job openings, and there are 46 at Liberty University and 34 at Cincinnati State.

    Since salary is important to some adjunct professors, it's good to note that they are figured to earn the highest salaries at Rhode Island School of Design, UnityPoint Health, and California College of the Arts. If you were to take a closer look at Rhode Island School of Design, you'd find that the average adjunct professor salary is $289,877. Then at UnityPoint Health, adjunct professors receive an average salary of $179,277, while the salary at California College of the Arts is $169,926.

    View more details on adjunct professor salaries across the United States.

    We also looked into companies who hire adjunct professors from the top 100 educational institutions in the U.S. The top three companies that hire the most from these institutions include New York University, Ivy Tech Community College, and DeVry University.

    The three companies that hire the most prestigious adjunct professors are:

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    What Facultys Do

    A faculty member is a professional whose primary responsibility is to provide teaching and research to students in colleges and universities. Faculties must work with colleagues to design a curriculum to keep up with the changes in the discipline. They help their students choose majors and mentor them by way of face-to-face or electronic means. They also keep up their communication with alumni to assist with employment searches or career changes.

    In this section, we compare the average adjunct professor annual salary with that of a faculty. Typically, faculties earn a $18,416 lower salary than adjunct professors earn annually.

    Even though adjunct professors and faculties have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require course curriculum, syllabus, and blackboard in the day-to-day roles.

    As far as similarities go, this is where it ends because an adjunct professor responsibility requires skills such as "semester," "abnormal psychology," "public speaking," and "healthcare." Whereas a faculty is skilled in "patients," "rehabilitation," "social work," and "scholarship." So if you're looking for what truly separates the two careers, you've found it.

    Faculties tend to reach lower levels of education than adjunct professors. In fact, faculties are 5.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.9% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of a Language Teacher?

    Language teachers primarily impart knowledge on multidimensional language through classes and activities. The teachers create conditions and develop activities allowing students to practice what they learned with significance. They immerse students in situational learning roles to write, read, converse, and learn different languages. Also, they are considered instrumental in establishing a supportive and positive learning environment. The teachers are also expected to be communicative and well-versed in the language/s they are teaching to their students.

    The next role we're going to look at is the language teacher profession. Typically, this position earns a lower pay. In fact, they earn a $47,408 lower salary than adjunct professors per year.

    A similarity between the two careers of adjunct professors and language teachers are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "syllabus," "student learning," and "course materials. "

    But both careers also use different skills, according to real adjunct professor resumes. While adjunct professor responsibilities can utilize skills like "course curriculum," "semester," "blackboard," and "philosophy," some language teachers use skills like "classroom management," "english language," "mandarin," and "grammar."

    On average, language teachers earn a lower salary than adjunct professors. There are industries that support higher salaries in each profession respectively. Interestingly enough, language teachers earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $50,678. Whereas, adjunct professors have higher paychecks in the education industry where they earn an average of $73,962.

    When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, language teachers tend to reach lower levels of education than adjunct professors. In fact, they're 10.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    What Technology Do You Think Will Become More Important And Prevalent For Instructors In The Next 3-5 Years?

    Dr. Jerome Miksell

    Professor (Musicianship, Technology, Viola), Department Chair, University of Mount Union

    Anything that makes live sound reinforcement and home studio recording better and more affordable will always have a future. I also think the digitization of sheet music could enjoy great success if someone released a cheap tablet.

    How a Social Studies Teacher Compares

    Teachers that specialize in human society are called social studies teachers. Usually, they are found at a high school and secondary school level. They teach concepts of history, geography, government, economics, and civic ideals. Their duties include assigning and grading homework, writing, and grading tests and essays as well as engaging students with lectures and relevant activities. Skills needed for the job include an analytical mind, service-oriented, and organized. They must also be highly knowledgeable about social sciences and has a field related degree to social study.

    The social studies teacher profession generally makes a lower amount of money when compared to the average salary of adjunct professors. The difference in salaries is social studies teachers making $49,096 lower than adjunct professors.

    Using adjunct professors and social studies teachers resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "syllabus," "student learning," and "mathematics," but the other skills required are very different.

    As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from adjunct professors resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "course curriculum," "semester," "blackboard," and "course materials." But a social studies teacher might have skills like "classroom management," "world history," "classroom environment," and "social studies curriculum."

    Interestingly enough, social studies teachers earn the most pay in the professional industry, where they command an average salary of $48,550. As mentioned previously, adjunct professors highest annual salary comes from the education industry with an average salary of $73,962.

    When it comes to education, social studies teachers tend to earn lower education levels than adjunct professors. In fact, they're 8.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 9.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Faculty Member

    A faculty member is responsible for teaching students a wide range of both vocational and academic subjects. As a faculty member, you will teach and impart knowledge to your students and help them with the learning process and knowledge application. Some of the duties that you will perform include collaborating with colleagues in modifying the curriculum, counseling them about learning difficulties, life choices, and personal problems, and writing recommendations to aid students to secure internships or jobs. You will also participate in activities of professional associations to advance research and standards in the field.

    Now, we'll look at faculty members, who generally average a higher pay when compared to adjunct professors annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $4,028 per year.

    While their salaries may vary, adjunct professors and faculty members both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "course curriculum," "syllabus," and "student learning. "

    Each job requires different skills like "semester," "blackboard," "philosophy," and "course syllabus," which might show up on an adjunct professor resume. Whereas faculty member might include skills like "public health," "general education," "advisory boards," and "hypertension."

    Faculty members earn a higher salary in the health care industry with an average of $143,955. Whereas, adjunct professors earn the highest salary in the education industry.

    The average resume of faculty members showed that they earn lower levels of education to adjunct professors. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 6.5% less. Additionally, they're more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.9%.