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Instructor, faculty vs adjunct faculty

The differences between instructors, faculty and adjunct faculties can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an instructor, faculty and an adjunct faculty. Additionally, an adjunct faculty has an average salary of $83,069, which is higher than the $57,553 average annual salary of an instructor, faculty.

The top three skills for an instructor, faculty include curriculum development, student learning and professional development. The most important skills for an adjunct faculty are student learning, syllabus, and philosophy.

Instructor, faculty vs adjunct faculty overview

Instructor, FacultyAdjunct Faculty
Yearly salary$57,553$83,069
Hourly rate$27.67$39.94
Growth rate2%2%
Number of jobs38,77426,791
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 47%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age4646
Years of experience44

What does an instructor, faculty do?

A faculty instructor usually teaches high school or college students. They usually plan everyday lessons, activities, and assignments, conduct research, training, and seminars, and develop instructional material such as a syllabus or a course outline. Also, they serve as guardians to students, including providing advice.

What does an adjunct faculty do?

Adjunct faculty is the collective term for adjunct professors or lecturers. The adjunct faculty teaches students based on the limited-term of their contract. Oftentimes, they teach preparatory or introductory courses by semester arrangement for the entire academic year. Most of them are employed in higher education. Unlike regular professors, adjunct faculty do not have benefits and are not required to be present in meetings. They can work as either a contract professor or a part-time professor.

Instructor, faculty vs adjunct faculty salary

Instructors, faculty and adjunct faculties have different pay scales, as shown below.

Instructor, FacultyAdjunct Faculty
Average salary$57,553$83,069
Salary rangeBetween $39,000 And $84,000Between $45,000 And $152,000
Highest paying CityCamarillo, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyCarilion ClinicHca Hospital Services Of San Diego
Best paying industryEducationGovernment

Differences between instructor, faculty and adjunct faculty education

There are a few differences between an instructor, faculty and an adjunct faculty in terms of educational background:

Instructor, FacultyAdjunct Faculty
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 47%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common majorNursingNursing
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Instructor, faculty vs adjunct faculty demographics

Here are the differences between instructors, faculty' and adjunct faculties' demographics:

Instructor, FacultyAdjunct Faculty
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 45.2% Female, 54.8%Male, 40.9% Female, 59.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.1% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 11.3% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 7.2% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.3% Asian, 11.2% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage16%16%

Differences between instructor, faculty and adjunct faculty duties and responsibilities

Instructor, faculty example responsibilities.

  • Lead early childhood program initiatives.
  • Develop curriculum and write syllabus.
  • Develop syllabus to meet accreditation standards.
  • Guide students through management of labor and safe delivery of normal spontaneous vaginal deliveries and postpartum coordination of patients plan of care
  • Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate on topics such as calculus, differential equations, and business mathematics.

Adjunct faculty example responsibilities.

  • Lead early childhood program initiatives.
  • Provide detail academic instruction for college students in anatomy & physiology, and medical terminology.
  • Prepare lectures, in-class exercises, and collect entirely new course materials to create a personalize syllabus
  • Inform students about course requirements, evaluation procedures, attendance and participation requirements in a course syllabus.
  • Facilitate teaching of online humanities course examining relationship between philosophy and ethics including issues relating to morality.
  • Provide instruction in accounting, economics, federal taxation, management, personnel and small business management.
  • Show more

Instructor, faculty vs adjunct faculty skills

Common instructor, faculty skills
  • Curriculum Development, 10%
  • Student Learning, 8%
  • Professional Development, 7%
  • Patient Care, 6%
  • Colleges, 6%
  • Instructional Materials, 5%
Common adjunct faculty skills
  • Student Learning, 11%
  • Syllabus, 8%
  • Philosophy, 7%
  • Professional Development, 6%
  • Course Syllabus, 5%
  • Course Content, 5%

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