Definition: The label of associate professor typically refers to a professor who is tenured. Associate professor is an intermediate rank, between assistant professors and full professors. Like all other professors, the associate professor participates in the three sets of duties that come with a career in academia: teaching, research, and service. All professors do more than teach classes; they also must conduct scholarly work, specifically, present and publish their work in peer reviewed conferences and journals. The third set of duties that come with the job of being a professor is service. Service duties entail all of the administrative work that keeps a college or university running. Service includes sitting on committees ranging from creating and evaluating curricula to overseeing workplace safety.
As they become more senior members of the university, associate professors are often expected to become more active and take on more leadership roles. Given that they have earned tenure and cannot be dismissed without due cause, associate professors conduct the service tasks that junior faculty members cannot, such as evaluating other professors for tenure and promotion. Some professors remain in the associate rank for the rest of their careers. Others seek promotion to the highest academic rank: professor.
