what is a "distinguished" professor?

Question

Is a distinguished professor more highly ranked than a full prof?

Also, what is the difference between an associate and an assistant profs' responsibilities and rank?

Answer 1

The title "Distinguished Professor" is conferred (very selectively) upon full professors who have made nationally or internationally known contributions to their fields.

At my university, the title is reserved for professors whose contributions exceed the usual boundaries of their field of study, and extend into other areas of study as well.

As to your next question, the position of assistant professor is the beginning rank of tenure-track professorships. The position of associate professor is a promotion from assistant.

Although this was not always the case, today, promotion to associate professor is usually linked to the conferral of tenure.

Associate professors and assistant professors have very similar responsibilities: teaching, research / publication, and service to their department, to their university and to their discipline.

Expectations in terms of service are higher for associate professors. And often, but not always, assistant professors have larger teaching burdens than associate professors.

But just as assistant professors are expected to publish in order to merit promotion to associate, associate professors are expected to publish in order to merit promotion to full.

Answer 2

A distinguished Professor is not highly ranked but highly held in his area of knowledge of a subject with many books, theses, literary or scientific works to his credit. He might be renowned as a visiting professor of a prominent university who might have been invited to visit many institutions in the countries abroad or internationally.
An Associate Professor is the head of a department of a medical college or a college/university whereas an Assistant Professor is rather junior in rank, scale and knowledge that the Professor, the head of a department in a college or the university.

Answer 3

A distinguished professor is someone who has served their profession with distinction. It is a title of recognition given to professors of note who are approaching their golden years of retirement.

Answer 4

A liberal mythical figure that doesn't exist, an extinct species. unheard of in this day and age of liberalism and the oxymoronic term "politically correct".