assistant professor

American  

noun

1. a teacher in a college or university who ranks above an instructor and below an associate professor.

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assistant professor British  

noun

1. a university teacher lower in rank than an associate professor

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Other Word Forms

• assistant professorship noun

Etymology

Origin of assistant professor

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

“Miran was an ideological ally,” says Jacob Bastian, a senior economist at CEA during the Biden administration and an assistant professor of economics at Rutgers University.

From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026

The authors—Mr. Dutkiewicz is an assistant professor at the Pratt Institute, Mr. Rosenberg is an associate professor at Duke University—harbor few illusions about the past.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

“Casino gambling used to be localized, so younger people weren’t really ever exposed to this,” said Logan Fields, an assistant professor of psychology at Arcadia University.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026

“If you copy-paste chunks of ChatGPT with minimal edits, then Pangram is fairly accurate,” Tuhin Chakrabarty, an assistant professor of computer science at SUNY, told me.

From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026

“Now that you are an assistant professor, I didn’t think you would,” said Theresa, feeling among the shoes.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen