What does a visiting professor do?
Visiting professors are faculty members from an institution who must visit a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic they are knowledgeable in. These professors are required to create a positive learning environment among undergraduate students by inviting them to participate and engage in classroom activities, which can consistently enhance the learning process of their students. They must serve as dissertation research chairperson for Ph.D. students in qualitative and quantitative research studies. Visiting professors must also conduct in-person lectures and direct undergraduate theses for special topics research courses.
Visiting professor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real visiting professor resumes:
- Used blackboard online to manage students tests, grade papers and assign materials.
- Teach various humanities, sociology, communications and ethics courses.
- Design and teach a graduate seminar.
- Graduate seminar in post-1945 art theory and criticism
- Develop educational resources that supplement core BSN courses.
- Review professor's syllabus and acquire full knowledge of his semester coursework in a short turnaround time.
- Plan, implement and evaluate nursing education in both the classroom and clinical setting for BSN nursing program.
- Establish and direct students through science base projects involving examining research methodology including ethics, logic, and reasoning skills.
- Teach blend online/classroom mathematics courses.
- Facilitate learning through online mathematics platform.
- Present academic papers on the ethics of emerging military technologies.
- Serve on doctoral committees (dissertations in econometrics and mathematical economics).
- Develop and teach business and economics-financial economics, price theory, microeconomics and macroeconomics.
- Develop course syllabus, deliver lectures and guide class discussion, develop and administer exams.
- Design and implement undergraduate research program by overhauling capstone literature review projects to student-le research base projects.
Visiting professor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Visiting Professors are proficient in Course Content, Student Learning, and Professional Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Speaking skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Visiting Professors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Course Content, 11%
Provided student feedback and assessed mastery of course content relative to actual events.
- Student Learning, 10%
Maximize the effectiveness of educational technology and distance learning techniques to facilitate student learning.
- Professional Development, 8%
Organized and conducted two professional development workshops for Duval and Seminole school districts.
- Philosophy, 7%
Have been involved in varying capacities as a Professor in Philosophy at Wheeling Jesuit University.
- Health Assessments, 5%
Managed and lectured clinical labs to students including Health Assessment, Fundamentals of Nursing, and senior practicums.
- Economics, 4%
Developed and taught business and economics-financial economics, price theory, microeconomics and macroeconomics.
Common skills that a visiting professor uses to do their job include "course content," "student learning," and "professional development." You can find details on the most important visiting professor responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a visiting professor to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "postsecondary teachers need to work well with others for tasks such as instructing students and serving on committees." Visiting professors often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "direct classroom teaching in organizational psychology, principles in management and leadership, business ethics and interpersonal communications. "
Speaking skills. Many visiting professor duties rely on speaking skills. "postsecondary teachers need good communication skills to present lectures and provide feedback to students.," so a visiting professor will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways visiting professor responsibilities rely on speaking skills: "presented academic papers on the ethics of emerging military technologies. "
Writing skills. visiting professors are also known for writing skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to visiting professor responsibilities, because "postsecondary teachers need strong writing ability to publish original research and analysis." A visiting professor resume example shows how writing skills is used in the workplace: "teach conversation and writing to majors in the english language and literature department. "
The three companies that hire the most visiting professors are:
- Grand Valley State University8 visiting professors jobs
- Daemen College2 visiting professors jobs
- Newman University2 visiting professors jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable visiting professor resume templates
Build a professional visiting professor resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your visiting professor resume.
Compare different visiting professors
Visiting professor vs. Faculty
A faculty member is an individual 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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between visiting professors and faculty. For instance, visiting professor responsibilities require skills such as "evaluates," "health assessments," "political science," and "capstone." Whereas a faculty is skilled in "patients," "rehabilitation," "social work," and "scholarship." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, faculties reach similar levels of education than visiting professors. Faculties are 2.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 13.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Visiting professor vs. Summer school teacher
A Summer School Teacher is a teacher who works during the summer period. They develop and implement schemes of work and lesson plans in line with curriculum objectives. Generally, they have the same duties as a school teacher.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, visiting professor responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "course content," "evaluates," "philosophy," and "health assessments." Meanwhile, a summer school teacher has duties that require skills in areas such as "classroom management," "math," "kids," and "cpr." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Summer school teachers may earn a lower salary than visiting professors, but summer school teachers earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $51,590. On the other hand, visiting professors receive higher pay in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $107,231.summer school teachers earn lower levels of education than visiting professors in general. They're 11.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 13.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for visiting professors in the next 3-5 years?
Rebecca Sarver
Lecturer in Human Services Studies, Elmira College
Visiting professor vs. Adjunct faculty
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.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, visiting professors are more likely to have skills like "evaluates," "health assessments," "political science," and "capstone." But a adjunct faculty is more likely to have skills like "course syllabus," "learning environment," "social work," and "course curriculum."
Adjunct faculties earn the highest salary when working in the government industry, where they receive an average salary of $115,189. Comparatively, visiting professors have the highest earning potential in the education industry, with an average salary of $107,231.When it comes to education, adjunct faculties tend to earn similar degree levels compared to visiting professors. In fact, they're 3.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 13.8% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Visiting professor vs. Middle school teacher
A middle school teacher is responsible for teaching students in grades six to eight, following a curriculum that fits on their grade levels to prepare them for the next advancement. Middle school teachers strategize effective lesson plans, engaging activities, and assessments to test the students' knowledge and understanding of the learning materials. They also observe the personal and developmental behaviors of the students by conducting group activities and performance. A middle school teacher identifies the students' strengths and weaknesses, adjusting the learning approach as needed to cater to each student's needs and difficulties.
Types of visiting professor
Updated January 8, 2025
