Faculty are categorized by the ranks of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Instructor. Instructors are generally full-time teachers who do not have a doctorate, Assistant Professors are those who are hired after receiving their doctorate, Associate Professors have at least five years of teaching experience as Assistant professors and have met a university's requirements for promotion and tenure, and Professors have been reviewed by their peers to achieve the highest possible rank. Professors and Associate Professors are senior faculty members whereas Assistant Professors and instructors are junior faculty members.
Schools may also use adjunct faculty to teach some courses. Adjuncts may be highly qualified teachers or executives who teach part time because they have other work obligations. They may teach courses for which a full-time faculty member does not have the background and the number of such courses offered does not warrant hiring a full-time professor.
This is a help page for a Search & Rank option on the Official MBA Guide.