What steps are necessary to become a college professor?

Question

I would like to teach English and Philosophy, and want to know what I need to do for that to happen.

Answer 1

Contrary to what some of the other people have said, the process doesn't involve any drinking the blood of bald eagles or voodoo to get through the "tenure process". It does, however, involve a lot of hard work and a huge amount of sacrifice. My comments pertain to the social sciences/humanities, as they are both my area of knowledge and the subjects broached in the question. I don't know to what extent they would be true of the natural sciences. Also, this pertains to the university system in the United States.

Firstly, you will need an advanced degree. You can teach in community colleges with a master's degree (as well as some liberal arts colleges), but for both community colleges and 4-year institutions a PhD is really helpful. With a PhD it is a lot easier to advance up the ranks in a community college, get tenure, etc.

Secondly, you have to publish. Most people who actually complete a PhD will write a couple of articles while in graduate school and produce a dissertation. This dissertation is frequently revised as the first book published by a young scholar. Over 90% of PhD's who complete a first book do not write a second. The writing of a second book should be considered essential if you want to earn tenure and hope to become an associate professor. I was once told that you needed to write a dissertation to become an assistant, publish it to become tenured, write a second book to become an associate, and produce a work that garners substantial attention in the field to become a full professor. That isn't a hard and fast rule, but it likely provides you some idea of what is involved in the process.

You mentioned that you wanted to teach both English and Philosophy. At the community college level you are required to have a certain number of graduate credits before you can teach in a field. I don't remember that magic number off the top of my head, but I believe its around 9 credits (3 courses). As part of a PhD there is a good likelihood that you will have to have an "outside area" or "minor." If your PhD was in English, you could take a few philosophy courses and likely satisfy the standard for CC teaching and for you outside/minor area for the degree. At the senior college level it often become a little more difficult to teach outside of your home discipline, especially early on. Unless, of course, you are able to be jointly appointed at hiring or are appointed to a department/program that involves teaching across departments. A professor of African-American studies, for instance, might well teach in English and History. I am sure that there would be analogs for English and Philosophy.

Answer 2

You have to go to school and get a minumum of a Masters degree (for community college professors) and a Doctoral for most colleges. I believe that you have to have some kind of Post Secondary education degree as well.

Good luck

Answer 3

From what I have seen and heard, above and beyond personal merit, the issue of "tenure" is a breaker that keeps a lot of great candidates from ever becoming professors. And that's a dirty shame.

Answer 4

starting with college. You will need to complete bachelors masters doctorate or bachelors doctorate or if you just want to be a professor in the generic sense then bachelors masters

Answer 5

First, you must hate America, the military, and Republicans, Christians, and white males. That's about it, actually.

Answer 6

get all your degrees, make post doc and look for a job

Answer 7

www.ehow.com/how_7980_become-college-professor.html
www.stthomas.edu/engineering/steps
www.answers.com/topic/professor