Education Careers Newsletter-Spring 26 Porterville College

What Does a College Professor Do?

A college professor typically has a mix of teaching, research, and service responsibilities. Common duties include: Preparing course syllabi, teaching undergraduate and/or graduate courses (lectures, seminars, labs, etc.). Designing assignments, exams or projects, grading work, and evaluating student performance. Holding office hours or otherwise advising and mentoring students academically, helping with coursework and career guidance. Conducting original research (or scholarly work) in their field, publishing findings in academic journals, and keeping up with developments in their discipline. Supervising graduate students (e.g., theses, dissertations) if at a graduate-granting institution. Participating in institutional service: attending faculty meetings, serving on committees, contributing to curriculum development, academic policy, and sometimes outreach or community engagement. In many places, the time allocation of a college professor roughly splits among teaching, research, and service (committee work, student advising, etc.). Because of this mix, being a professor combines teaching skills with research rigor — it’s not purely “teaching” like K–12 teachers.

Education & Qualifications Required

To become a college professor in the U.S., you generally need: A Bachelor’s degree in the field you want to teach. A graduate degree, often a Master’s, but in many cases a doctoral degree (PhD) is required — especially for full-time, tenure-track positions at four-year colleges and universities. Significant scholarly/research credentials (publications, original research), especially for research-heavy or tenure-track roles. Teaching experience — often gained during graduate school (e.g., as teaching assistant) — or other relevant teaching or professional experience. Skills such as strong communication, subject-matter expertise, ability to mentor students, adaptability, commitment to ongoing learning, and sometimes administrative or committee work. If you start with an advanced degree but lack a PhD, you might find positions at community colleges or adjunct (part-time) roles — though these often involve lower pay and fewer career-growth opportunities.

Salary — What College Professors Make (U.S. Estimates)

Salaries vary widely based on rank (assistant, associate, full), institution type (community college, public/private university), field, and geographic location. Here’s a breakdown of typical ranges as of recent data. According to a recent summary, the median (average) salary for a college professor in the U.S. is about US $175,446/year. Typical range: roughly $83,364 to $267,528. For full-time, full professors: many sources show annual pay in the range of ≈ $150,000–$200,000+, depending on discipline, seniority, institution, and location. For entry-level or assistant professors (or early-career instructors), salaries may be lower: for example one data source lists an entry-level salary around $83,549. Mid-level (associate) professors fall somewhere in between; depending on discipline and institution, many make well into the mid-to-high five-figures or low six-figures. As noted, pay depends heavily on field (e.g., humanities vs. medicine/engineering), institution prestige, research grants, geographic cost-of-living, whether it's a tenure-track role or adjunct/part-time, and other factors. It’s also worth noting that many professors are on 9- or 10-month academic-year contracts (especially in traditional schools), rather than 12-month contracts — with potential for summer income via research grants, consultancy, extra courses, etc.

What is a School Social Worker?

A school social worker is a specialized area of practice within the broad field of the social work profession. School social workers bring unique knowledge and skills to the school system and the student services team.

What does a School Social Worker do?

School Social Workers are trained mental health professionals who can assist with mental health concerns, behavioral concerns, positive behavioral support, academic, and classroom support, consultation with teachers, parents, and administrators as well as provide individual and group counseling/therapy. 

School social workers are instrumental in furthering the mission of the schools which is to provide a setting for teaching, learning, and for the attainment of competence and confidence. School social workers are hired by school districts to enhance the district's ability to meet its academic mission, especially where home, school and community collaboration is the key to achieving student success. ​

Responsibilities may be, but are not limited to are as follows:

• Identify and assess academic barriers through exploration of factors impinging on student adjustment including factors in the home, school, and community
• Consult and collaborate with teachers, administrators, and other school staff on behavioral-emotional environmental issues affecting student participation in the learning process
• Provide one-on-one brief solution-focused individual and group counseling services to students
• Assist in the coordination and delivery of school based therapeutic support services
• Conduct workshops, social skills groups, and classroom presentations on identified areas of concern for the students
• Serve as a school site crisis intervention team member
• Provide staff development in the areas of behavioral-emotional-environmental issues affecting student participation in the learning process
• Assist in development of community awareness and partnerships
• Collaborate with School Counseling team, to meet the needs of identified foster/non-traditional housing youth and other at-promise student sub-groups (including parenting, gang affiliated, justice involved and LGBTQIA2S+ youth)
• Assist in development, coordination, and implementation of psycho-educational workshops
• Collaborate with School Counselors, Student Retention Support, School Psychologist, Community Liaisons, and staff
• Collaborate with county social workers, probation officers, case managers and/or service providers to ensure student success
• Serve as preceptor for Social Worker Internships
• Support School Counseling events, activities, and initiatives
• Attend meetings and professional development activities as required
• Administrative duties, responsibilities, and activities may be assigned or changed from time to time

Qualifications for a School Social Worker

• Masters' degree in Social Work required
• Valid California Pupil Personnel Services(PPS) Credential with Specialization in School Social Work required, Child Welfare Attendance (CWA) preferred
• Experience coordinating comprehensive support systems to students
• Experience providing case management, facilitating support groups, and delivering mental health interventions in an academic setting
• Proficient in student information database
• Skill in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Ability to travel in performance of job duties is required.

Working Conditions

• Mental Demands: high workflow management, high project coordination, high people engagement
• Finger Dexterity: using primarily just the fingers to make small movements such as typing, picking up small objects, or pinching fingers together
• Talking: especially where one must convey detailed or important instructions or ideas accurately, loudly, or quickly
• Average Hearing: able to hear average or normal conversations and receive ordinary information
• Average Visual Abilities: ordinary acuity necessary to prepare or inspect documents or operate machinery
• Physical Strength: sedentary work. Sitting most of the time, and occasionally exerts up to 10 lbs. of force (almost all office jobs)
• Frequent multi-tasking, changing of task priorities, repetitious exacting work required
• Working in a noisy, distracting environment with frequent deadline pressures