Are teachers staff or faculty?

Question

Zippia Team · Accepted Answer

Teachers are faculty. Faculty is an academic term used by universities to describe someone whose role is to teach students. Staff, on the other hand, is a term used for those employed by universities for non-academic positions who do not teach but are there ultimately to assist faculty and students.

The term faculty is used to describe a group of educators such as teachers, professors, doctors, researchers, and scholars who impart their knowledge to students.

A staff member, on the other hand, is any non-teaching position such as IT, administration, security, cafeteria, or janitorial services. Staff can also be anyone working at a university hospital, research institute, and sometimes library.

There are other differences between faculty and staff. For one, there are huge differences in career advancement, with faculty typically going through the promotion and tenure process.

Academic librarians can sometimes be considered faculty positions complete with tenure track opportunities, but other times they are considered staff. It largely comes down to the university and state.

Regardless of the subject or instruction method, teachers are always called faculty. Other names for teachers in an academic setting include faculty, instructor, full-time professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or adjunct professor.