Business Professor: Job Description and Salary Information

• What community college business professors do
• Educational and certification requirements
• Income projections
• Pros and cons of being a community college business professor

What community college business professors do

Community colleges award associate degrees and give students the education and credits necessary to transfer to four-year institutions to complete a bachelor’s degree. At the community college level, business professors teach fundamental business principles and introductory to intermediate courses in subjects such as management, accounting and finance.

Here are some of the main responsibilities of a business professor working at a community college:

• Developing course materials such a syllabus, tests, homework, handouts, activities, project assignments and essay/presentation prompts
• Lecturing undergraduates on topics such as leadership, finance, accounting, administration, supply chain management and ethics
• Grading students’ essays, exams, quizzes and homework
• Holding regular office hours to answer questions and provide guidance
• Advising students on projects, presentations and proposals
• Keeping up-to-date on relevant publications and business news
• Attending faculty meetings
• Going to professional conferences

As a community college business professor, you may also be expected to teach students writing skills related to corporate communication such as business plans, grant proposals and other important business documents.

Educational and certification requirements

At minimum, community college business professors must have a master’s degree in business or a similar field. Getting hired as full-time faculty at a community college can be very competitive, so having a doctorate in education or a relevant field such as economics can give you a leg up on the competition. And having real-world experience working in business, especially management positions, is a huge plus.

Income projections

Here are a couple of estimates of what you might earn as a full-time business professor at a community college:

• BLS: $73,500
• Houston Chronicle: $72,000

Full-time faculty at community colleges generally command higher salaries than adjunct professors, who are paid by the course and don’t always receive benefits. For more about the difference between full-time faculty and adjunct professors, check out our article on community college instructors.

Pros and cons of being a community college business professor

These are the key advantages and disadvantages of becoming a community college business professor:

Pros

• Teach students who are dynamic, enthusiastic and eager for opportunities
• Rewarding to educate many first-generation college students, often from immigrant families
• Focus more on teaching and inspiring students and less on research and bureaucracy
• Flexible hours and opportunities to take time off

Cons

• Less prestigious than working at a university
• Lower pay than professors at four-year colleges/universities/graduate schools
• Many teaching positions at community colleges are adjunct, meaning lower pay, few benefits and little job security

• What business professors do
• Educational and certification requirements
• Income projections
• Pros and cons of being a business professor

What business professors do at four-year colleges, universities and graduate schools

Business professors teach courses in business at universities and other four-year institutions of higher education. They also carry out research in a specialized area and publish their findings in journals, reviews and books.

While business professors may specialize in a particular area of research such as the global financial system or entrepreneurship in developing countries, they will probably teach courses outside their area of concentration as well. This teaching load is especially true earlier in a business professor’s career, when they will frequently teach many introductory courses to undergraduates.

If you teach exclusively at a graduate school, you may be responsible only for advanced courses or courses focused in your area of speciality.

Here’s a closer look at the three main set of responsibilities — research, teaching and faculty management — for a business professor working at four-year colleges, universities and graduate schools.

Teaching

Business professors’ teaching duties typically include:

• Teaching introductory and general business courses to undergraduates, and advanced courses to graduate students and upper-level undergraduates
• Setting overall instructional objectives for each course
• Delivering lectures
• Leading conversations and discussions at the close of lectures
• Creating and updating the curriculum and each course’s syllabus, content and instructional methods
• Selecting and leading a team of teaching assistants
• Maintaining regular office hours to answer questions and provide guidance
• Advising students on appropriate coursework

In some cases, professors may lead teams of teaching assistants who help with many key tasks. Business professors use their discretion in deciding how closely to manage their assistants. The following tasks may be directly handled by teaching assistants:

• Moderating classroom discussions
• Obtaining materials and supplies such as textbooks
• Assembling course materials such as homework assignments and handouts
• Supervising student research projects
• Grading students’ exams, quizzes, homework and papers

Professors are ultimately responsible for the quality of education and classroom experience their students receive. Therefore, they often intervene directly in some of these tasks, especially supervising classroom discussion and assigning final grades.

Research

A business professor’s research duties usually include:

• Closely examining the inner workings of a real-world business
• Performing quantitative and qualitative research
• Applying for grants to gain external funding from corporations
• Establishing and leading a team of research assistants, who may double as teaching assistants
• Analyzing data and developing theories based on it
• Writing articles, books or other original materials based on research findings
• Reading extensively to keep up with changes in business research and education
• Enhancing the university’s reputation by speaking engagements at conferences, publishing editorials in the media and giving outside advice to executives and boards of directors

Faculty management

Business professors are frequently involved in the management and community engagement of the institution that employs them. Here are some examples of what that may entail:

• Participating in the faculty evaluation process, including providing input on the admission of new professors
• Mentoring newly hired faculty members
• Serving on advisory boards, hiring committees and ad hoc committees
• Participating in the Faculty Senate
• Taking part in commencement or other ceremonies
• Advising their department on the designation of learning outcomes, administrative measurements and student evaluation standards
• Collaborating with faculty colleagues and administrators in developing program standards, spelling out policies and selecting textbooks

Business professors are often uniquely suited to serve in administrative positions at colleges and universities. If you are successful as a business professor and enjoy faculty management and support work, seeking an administrative position can be a path toward career advancement and a higher salary.

Educational and certification requirements

Earning a professorship at a university or four-year college can be an enormous undertaking. At minimum, you will have to complete a PhD or Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) that demonstrates your commitment to research and inquiry in the field of business administration and management. Getting a full-time faculty position at a college or university also requires that you publish original research and earn the respect and admiration of your colleagues.

Most schools also want business department faculty or staff to have real-world business experience. If you have a particularly notable track record working in the business world, you may be able to sidestep some of the other requirements. If you do not have a business background, you will probably have to take foundation master’s courses in business.

Income projections

Business professors at four-year schools usually earn significantly more than their counterparts at community colleges. Here are a handful of annual salary estimates for business professors:

• $99,170 (BLS)
• $112,686 (Salary.com)
• $91,078 (Glassdoor.com)
• $66,700 to $185,600 (AACSB)

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business lists salary averages for business instructors through business professors, broken down by discipline and job title for new hires and all faculty.

Pros and cons of being a business professor

Consider both the advantages and disadvantages of becoming a business professor at a four-year college or university

Pros

• Full benefits for health insurance and retirement security
• Tenure-track position, with an opportunity for long-term job security
• Ample opportunities for research and outside consulting
• Publish your findings in prestigious journals and books
• Get to teach students with a passion for learning and achievement
• May be able to take on a leadership role at a college or university
• Plenty of time off for vacation or a second career

Cons

• Probably responsible for joining a committee and attending many extra meetings and professional events
• Can be frustrating to work within bureaucratic institutions like universities
• Academia can be highly competitive, with a “publish-or-perish” norm
• Many years of advanced education are required
• Lower pay than many executive positions in the corporate world