Chair (academic)

Professor

Albert Einstein as a Professor
Occupation
Names	Professor
Occupation type	Education, research, teaching
Activity sectors	Academics
Description
Competencies	Academic knowledge, research, writing journal articles or book chapters, teaching
Education required	Master's degree, doctoral degree (e.g., Ph.D.), professional degree, or other terminal degree
Related jobs	Teacher, lecturer, reader, researcher

Professor (commonly abbreviated as prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences, a teacher of the highest rank.

In much of the world, the unqualified word "professor" is used formally to indicate the highest academic rank, informally known as "full professor". In some countries, the word professor is only used in this sense, whereas in other countries, the word professor is also used in titles of lower ranks such as associate professor and assistant professor.

Professors conduct original research and commonly teach undergraduate, graduate, or professional courses in their fields of expertise. In universities with graduate schools, professors may mentor and supervise graduate students conducting research for a thesis or dissertation. Professors typically hold a Ph.D., another doctorate or a different terminal degree. Some professors hold a master's degree or a professional degree, such as an M.D., as their highest degree.

The term "professor" was first used in the late 14th century to mean "one who teaches a branch of knowledge." The word comes "...from Old French professeur (14c.) and directly from [the] Latin professor[, for] "person who professes to be an expert in some art or science; teacher of highest rank,"; the Latin term came from the "...agent noun from profiteri "lay claim to, declare openly." As a title that is "prefixed to a name, it dates from 1706." The "[s]hort form prof is recorded from 1838." The term "professor" is also used with a different meaning: "[o]ne professing religion. This canting use of the word comes down from the Elizabethan period, but is obsolete in England."