associate professor

American  

noun

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

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associate professor British  

noun

1. (in the US and Canada) a university teacher lower in rank than a full professor but higher than an assistant professor

2. (in New Zealand) a senior lecturer holding the rank below professor

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Other Word Forms

• associate professorship noun

Etymology

Origin of associate professor

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

Jill Johnston is an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at UC Irvine.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

Feng and Michael Halassa, an associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Tufts University, are the senior authors of the study, which appears in Nature Neuroscience.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

"This is the culmination of policies aimed at creating a sovereign internet," Marielle Wijermars, an associate professor of internet governance at Maastricht University told AFP.

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

“This is not the end of SEO,” says Kelly Cutler, associate professor of digital marketing and visual communication at Northwestern University.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026

Helmholtz was an associate professor at the Prussian University of Konigsberg and one of the leading scientists of his day.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel