A college professor teaches, but there are a variety of other activities that can fill a professor’s day and become a regular part of their job. Much depends on the professor’s employment status and the type of school where he or she works. This may influence the extent to which other responsibilities are included in the job description of a college professor.
The type of school a college professor attends may have a significant impact on how much he or she teaches. The full-time community college teacher (who may or may not be a professor with a PhD) teaches the most classes on average. This could mean that a teacher teaches five to six classes or sections per semester, as well as keeping office hours to meet with students who have specific questions about the material or need academic advice. To grade or prepare material, many of these teachers do not use readers, tutors, graduate students, or other assistants. They create their own syllabi, class assignments, and lessons. They frequently choose the texts that students will purchase, and they use whatever fair grading standards they want as long as the school approves them.
In a community college setting, the emphasis is primarily on teaching, but professors in this setting, as well as in any other type of college, will need to attend departmental meetings to ensure that their work is aligned with that of other teachers. A push to publish material is something that isn’t common at the JC level. If a college professor wishes to publish, he or she is free to do so, but it is not given the same priority as it is at other institutions.
For the college professor, four-year colleges that do not offer graduate degrees may be very similar. Each school determines the importance of publishing, which may or may not be significant. The role of a college professor may change slightly in schools that offer graduate-level coursework. Professors, for example, tend to teach fewer classes or lecture in classes and then have graduate assistants provide additional information to students, especially in freshman and sophomore classes. Teaching upper-level courses, graduate classes, and advising graduate students may receive more attention. The college professor’s office hours will continue to be held, and he or she may see both graduate and undergraduate students. Professors’ accessibility varies school.
While college professors in schools that offer graduate level training may still prepare some of their material and decide on a curriculum, they may also have graduate students on hand who prepare parts of it, which varies as well. It’s a very common model in universities that offer PhD programs. Professors, on the other hand, may be able to do more teaching in schools where the highest degree earned is a master’s degree.
Most colleges that offer graduate programs place a strong emphasis on ongoing research, writing, and publication. The phrase “publish or perish” is often used to describe the need to maintain personal and academic prestige becoming a recognized expert in the field. This added responsibility is frequently cited as a reason for a college professor’s decision to teach fewer classes. Not only do they teach students, but they also contribute to the sum of knowledge in their subject area.