CCDean, a couple of weeks ago, had an article on ranks in academia.
A ft instructor wrote in about what he/she is called and how that title is viewed by the academic community at large.
CCDean wrote:
DIfferent systems use different criteria and definitions for names, but the names themselves don’t change much. This leads to no end of confusion.
It starts with something as simple as “professor.†Much of the unhappiness in the profession, I think, stems from people having very different ideas of what a “professor†is. Is a “professor†a researcher with graduate assistants who occasionally gives an auditorium lecture, or a teacher who relies on group discussion, or a learning coach who helps students navigate self-paced learning modules? I’ve seen it carry each of those meanings and many more, but if you think it means the first and you get hired somewhere that believes it means the third, I foresee heartache.
I’m noted as a professor on my book blurb. I was really worried when I saw it. Then I decided that, for the public who will most likely be reading the book, professor = college teacher.
Then it turns out my college has no tenure and no ranks. So everyone is a professor. Even me, the newly minted employee.
I was also a professor at one of my adjunct colleges. Everyone was one.
There are some interesting tales of names/ranks both in the article itself and in the comments.