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Coming to Terms With Academic Titles at US Colleges

September 24th, 2010 at 07:55am Under Education report

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Not everyone who teaches in a college or university is a professor. Many are instructors or lecturers. In fact, not even all professors are full professors. Many of them are assistant or associate professors or adjunct professors.

So what do all of these different academic titles mean at American colleges and universities? Get ready for a short lecture, especially if you are thinking of a career in higher education.

Professors usually need a doctoral degree. But sometimes a school will offer positions to people who have not yet received their doctorate.

This person would be called an instructor until the degree has been completed. After that, the instructor could become an assistant professor. Assistant professors do not have tenure.

Tenure means a permanent appointment. This goal of greater job security is harder to reach these days. Fewer teaching positions offer the chance for tenure.

Teachers and researchers who are hired into positions that do offer it are said to be “on the tenure track.” Assistant professor is the first job on this path.

Assistant professors generally have five to seven years to gain tenure. During this time, other faculty members study the person’s work. If tenure is denied, then the assistant professor usually has a year to find another job.

Candidates for tenure may feel great pressure to get research published. “Publish or perish” is the traditional saying.

An assistant professor who receives tenure becomes an associate professor. An associate professor may later be appointed a full professor.

Assistant, associate and full professors perform many duties. They teach classes. They advise students. And they carry out research. They also serve on committees and take part in other activities.

Other faculty members are not expected to do all these jobs. They are not on a tenure track. Instead, they might be in adjunct or visiting positions.

A visiting professor has a job at one school but works at another for a period of time. An adjunct professor is also a limited or part-time position, to do research or teach classes. Adjunct professors have a doctorate.

Another position is that of lecturer. Lecturers teach classes, but they may or may not have a doctorate.

And that’s the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. You can read and listen to our reports, and get information on how to study in the United States, at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Barbara Klein.

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Muslim College Opens in US With Hopes and Suspicions

August 23rd, 2010 at 07:37am Under Education report

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Zaytuna College is a new four-year college in Berkeley, California. Zaytuna is seeking to become the first accredited Muslim college in the United States. The name comes from the Arabic word for olives.

The process of full accreditation could take several years. That will make it easier for students to get financial aid, and to have their education recognized by employers and other schools.

Zaytuna held its first classes this summer — intensive study of Arabic to prepare for classes in the fall.

Zaytuna currently offers two majors, a choice of Islamic law and religion or Arabic language. General education classes include American history, anthropology, philosophy, literature and political science.

Imam Zaid Shakir is a professor and co-founder of Zaytuna. He was born in Berkeley. The college website says he accepted Islam in nineteen seventy-seven while serving in the United States Air Force.

Imam Shakir says he wants teachers who are trained and educated in the United States and who understand American society.

ZAID SHAKIR: “And who also are comfortable with their Americanness on the one hand and comfortable with Islam on the other hand.”

There are millions of American Muslims. But the imam says most of the teachers of Islam in America received their training in other countries. He says Islam has never become rooted in any land until that land had its own Islamic scholars.

Michael Higgins studies the relationship between religion and higher education. The United States has many different religious colleges. But he says he fears there could be protests if Zaytuna College is seen as teaching students not to accept other religions.

MICHAEL HIGGINS: “I think there will be a lot of fear or apprehension around the establishment of a college that adheres to Islam. If it becomes a madrasa or a college of inculcation only, that could be hugely problematic.”

This September eleventh will be nine years since the al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the United States. Imam Shakir recognizes that those attacks and other plots since then have fed public suspicions about Islam.

But he says opponents of the college represent a minority opinion in the United States. He says they are reacting to a small group of extremists — a “lunatic fringe” — in the Islamic community.

ZAID SHAKIR: “And I think this is why Zaytuna College is so important. If we prove ourselves, even those more vocal critics will be silenced. It’s up to us; the ball is in our court.”

And that’s the VOA Special English Education Report, with reporting by Lonny Shavelson. I’m Steve Ember.

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Coming to Terms With Academic Titles at US Colleges

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