Professor resume examples
This page has 12 one-page professor resume examples, from adjunct faculty, an adjunct professor and English and nursing instructors to assistant professors in computer science, biology, psychology and English, visiting, clinical and teaching-track assistant professors, and an associate professor. Each one is checked against 13,836 US postings from 985 colleges and other employers, and the note under each sample says which teaching, student, grant and research numbers it puts first.
Adjunct Faculty Resume Example
Adjunct Faculty postings ask for college-level teaching experience, a master's degree and comfort with Canvas, Blackboard and Microsoft Office, and this resume puts a Communication Studies master's, two teaching roles and both learning management systems up front. Its bullets show the duties employers list most, from timely feedback and accurate grade records to office hours and student support, each with a measured result.
Why this resume works:
- Teach 4 sections of Public Speaking and Interpersonal Communication each term, about 110 students in all.
- Moved 3 courses between learning management systems, from Blackboard to Canvas, with no lost grades or submissions.
- Grade speeches with rubric scores and written feedback within 5 days, lifting average final speech scores 9%.
Adjunct Professor Resume Example
Adjunct Professor postings ask for teaching experience, Blackboard, organizational skills and, in computing departments, Python, and this resume leads with a current evening Python course backed by a master's in computer science. Six years of developer work give the industry depth adjunct hiring favors, while the teaching bullets show quick feedback, clear course organization and a measured gain in pass rates.
Why this resume works:
- Teach Introduction to Programming in Python and Data Structures to about 70 students a term.
- Write 12 weekly labs per course in Jupyter Notebooks, graded automatically through unit testing within 48 hours.
- Publish grades, rubrics and announcements in Blackboard and answer student questions within 24 hours.
English Instructor Resume Example
English Instructor postings ask for teaching experience, strong communication skills, PowerPoint and sensitivity to diverse students, and this resume shows 6 years in composition and ESL classrooms with a master's in composition and rhetoric. Its bullets cover the duties employers write most, feedback, curriculum work and student success, with numbers such as a 13-point gain in pass rates.
Why this resume works:
- Teach 5 sections of English Composition and Critical Reading each term, about 140 students.
- Rebuilt the developmental English sequence as one corequisite course, raising transfer-level pass rates from 58% to 71%.
- Grade essays in Canvas with shared rubrics, check sources in Turnitin and return comments within 7 days.
Nursing Instructor Resume Example
Nursing Instructor postings ask for a master's degree in nursing, an active RN license, at least two years of clinical experience and sound clinical judgment, and this resume lists the MSN, the Ohio license and 7 years of bedside nursing before anything else. Its teaching bullets match the clinical supervision, simulation and evaluation duties employers write most, backed by a 94% NCLEX-RN pass rate.
Why this resume works:
- Lead clinical instruction for groups of 8 students on adult medical-surgical units, 2 days a week.
- Run 6 high-fidelity simulation scenarios a semester on sepsis, falls and medication errors.
- Teach Adult Health I lectures to 60 students using PowerPoint, case studies and NCLEX-style questions.
Assistant Professor Resume Example
Assistant Professor postings ask for a doctorate, teaching experience, mentoring and the ability to work collaboratively across fields, and this resume shows a PhD, tenure-track teaching with strong ratings and a lab that mentors PhD and undergraduate researchers. A federal grant, peer-reviewed papers and a radiology partnership give hiring committees the research record and interdisciplinary collaboration they look for.
Why this resume works:
- Teach 2 courses a semester, including Machine Learning for 120 undergraduates, with course ratings of 4.6/5.
- Secured a $175,000 NSF CRII grant for label-efficient deep learning on chest X-ray data.
- Mentor 4 PhD students and 6 undergraduate researchers, 3 of whom co-authored peer-reviewed papers.
Visiting Assistant Professor Resume Example
Visiting Assistant Professor roles are short teaching-heavy appointments that ask for a completed PhD and college-level teaching experience, and this resume opens with a 2024 doctorate and 6 years in the classroom. It shows the duties departments list most, a full course load, new course design, student advising and timely feedback, while a published article signals readiness for a tenure-track search.
Why this resume works:
- Teach 3 courses a semester, including the US survey and a Reconstruction seminar, to about 85 students.
- Built 2 new courses with a course design grant, having students map 1,200 county court records.
- Advise 25 history majors on course plans and senior theses; all 9 seniors graduated on time in 2026.
Clinical Assistant Professor Resume Example
Clinical Assistant Professor postings ask for a professional doctorate, current licensure, clinical practice and leadership in teaching, and this resume puts the PharmD, BCPS and Illinois license next to 6 years of ambulatory care. Its bullets show both halves of the job, classroom and rotation teaching plus a practice site with measured patient outcomes, the mix clinical-track hiring committees look for.
Why this resume works:
- Teach 14 lecture hours a year in the cardiology and endocrine pharmacotherapy modules for 160 PharmD students.
- Mentor 10 fourth-year students a year as their ambulatory care rotation preceptor, all passing final evaluations.
- Manage 300 patients under a collaborative practice agreement, lowering average A1c 1.4 points in 12 months.
Assistant Teaching Professor Resume Example
Assistant Teaching Professor postings ask for strong teaching experience, Python and a clear teaching philosophy, and this resume shows 6 years of statistics teaching, large Python and R courses and measured gains from active learning. It also covers the service and coordination these teaching-track roles expect, from leading 12 teaching assistants to building a new data science minor.
Why this resume works:
- Teach Introduction to Data Science and Regression Analysis to about 450 students a semester across 3 courses.
- Coordinate 12 graduate teaching assistants with weekly prep meetings and grading calibration in Gradescope.
- Rebuilt the intro course around Jupyter Notebooks in Python, cutting the D/F/W rate from 19% to 11%.
Assistant Professor of Biology Resume Example
Assistant Professor of Biology postings name undergraduate teaching and mentoring above all, and this resume shows 3 years of lecture and lab teaching plus 14 student researchers mentored. A PhD, a postdoc with first-author papers and a student-run CRISPR-Cas9 lab show the research program a teaching-focused department expects to see sustained with undergraduates.
Why this resume works:
- Teach Cell Biology, Genetics and their lab sections to about 110 students a year, with ratings of 4.5/5.
- Built a course-based research lab where 48 students a year knock out zebrafish genes with CRISPR-Cas9.
- Mentor 8 undergraduate researchers a year, 5 of whom presented posters at regional meetings.
Assistant Professor of Psychology Resume Example
Assistant Professor of Psychology searches look for a PhD, college teaching in core courses such as research methods and statistics, and an active research lab that involves undergraduates, and this resume shows all three in its first lines. Advising, honors thesis supervision and approved IRB protocols cover the mentoring and research duties departments list alongside teaching.
Why this resume works:
- Teach Research Methods, Statistics and Child Development to about 300 students a year.
- Direct a child language lab with 10 undergraduate research assistants and 140 enrolled families.
- Program studies in Qualtrics and write IRB protocols, with 6 of 7 approved on first submission.
Assistant Professor of English Resume Example
Assistant Professor of English searches ask for a PhD in English, college teaching in both literature and composition, and a scholarly agenda, and this resume opens with all three, including a book under contract. Writing center leadership, a new course and major advising show the service and student support that English departments list next to teaching.
Why this resume works:
- Teach 3 courses a semester in American Literature and first-year writing, about 90 students.
- Direct the writing center's 14 peer tutors, who held 2,300 sessions in the 2025-26 year.
- Created a course on Midwestern fiction that filled all 30 seats in each of its first 2 terms.
Associate Professor Resume Example
Associate Professor postings ask for leadership, administrative experience, mentoring and a record of teaching and funded research, and this resume shows tenure, a program director role and a lab with $2.4 million in funding. Leading an ABET visit and managing 4 grants on schedule give the project management and administrative proof senior faculty searches look for.
Why this resume works:
- Direct an undergraduate program of 620 students and led the 2025 ABET accreditation visit with no deficiencies.
- Manage 4 active grants worth $1.6 million, filing every budget and progress report on schedule.
- Mentor 5 PhD students and 2 junior faculty; 3 recent graduates now work at national laboratories.
What employers ask for in professor job postings
Professor job postings in the US, October 2026
- 13,836
- active US job postings
- 985
- employers hiring
- 2 yr
- median experience asked
- 17%
- ask for 1 year or less
Make sure your resume shows
- Excellent oral and written communication skills (26% of employers)
- Teaching experience at the college or university level (15% of employers)
- Curriculum vitae with the application (13% of employers)
- Commitment to undergraduate teaching and student success (7% of employers)
- Three professional references (7% of employers)
- Master's degree in nursing (nursing faculty) (6% of employers)
- Master's or doctoral degree in the field you teach (6% of employers)
- Microsoft Office: Word, Excel and PowerPoint (4% of employers)
Duties to build your bullet points around
What employers write most often under responsibilities. Show each one with a result (numbers, scale, outcome), not a copy of the duty.
- Keep accurate attendance, grading and student records (9%)
- Give timely, constructive feedback on student work (9%)
- Advise, mentor and support students (7%)
- Create an inclusive classroom that keeps students engaged (6%)
- Evaluate student performance and learning outcomes (5%)
- Develop and deliver course materials, lectures and assignments (4%)
The examples on this page, in job postings
| Example | US postings | Median years asked | Skills that set this role apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adjunct Faculty | 2,574 | 3 | – |
| Adjunct Professor | 293 | 2 | – |
| English Instructor | 70 | 1 | – |
| Nursing Instructor | 176 | 3 | microsoft office, word, critical thinking |
| Assistant Professor | 1,716 | 2 | – |
| Visiting Assistant Professor | 44 | – | – |
| Clinical Assistant Professor | 68 | 2 | – |
| Assistant Teaching Professor | 91 | 3 | – |
| Assistant Professor of Biology | 39 | 2 | – |
| Assistant Professor of Psychology | 25 | – | – |
| Assistant Professor of English | 20 | 1 | – |
| Associate Professor | 262 | 3 | – |
Which job title to put on your resume: the titles employers use most, so recruiters and applicant tracking systems search for them: Adjunct (296 employers), Adjunct Faculty (274 employers), Assistant Professor (262 employers), Adjunct Instructor (214 employers), Assistant/Associate Professor (125 employers).
Source: Owlapply analysis of active US job postings, October 2026. Requirements and duties are grouped by meaning from the postings' own bullet lists and counted once per employer.
Advertised pay, experience and the skills employers ask for: Professor pay and requirements.
Check your professor resume against a real job posting
- Paste a professor job posting into the job match score tool to see which of its skills your resume is missing.
- Upload your resume to the ATS resume checker to read the text an applicant tracking system gets from it.
Professor resume sample (text you can copy)
This is the text of the English Instructor example above. Paste it into the resume builder and replace the details with your own.
English Instructor resume sample
HANNAH OKAFOR
English Instructor
Sacramento, CA · (916) 555-0162 · [email protected] · linkedin.com/in/hannahokafor
SUMMARY
English instructor with 6 years of teaching English composition, developmental reading and ESL to college and adult learners. Teaches 5 sections a term at a community college, runs peer review workshops and short PowerPoint lessons, and brings cultural sensitivity to classes where 40% of students speak another language at home.
EXPERIENCE
English Instructor, Sierra Oaks Community College, Sacramento, CA | 08/2022 - Present
- Teach 5 sections of English Composition and Critical Reading each term, about 140 students.
- Rebuilt the developmental English sequence as one corequisite course, raising transfer-level pass rates from 58% to 71%.
- Grade essays in Canvas with shared rubrics, check sources in Turnitin and return comments within 7 days.
- Coordinate a 6-instructor curriculum development team that rewrote outcomes and assessments for 3 courses.
ESL Instructor, Capitol Language Institute, Sacramento, CA | 06/2020 - 07/2022
- Taught grammar, academic writing and listening to classes of 18 adults from up to 12 countries.
- Built a placement test in Microsoft Word and an online form that cut misplaced students by 30%.
- Created PowerPoint units on academic vocabulary used across all 4 program levels.
- Prepared 25 students a term for the TOEFL, with 80% reaching their target university score.
Writing Center Tutor, California State University, Sacramento, University Reading and Writing Center, Sacramento, CA | 08/2018 - 05/2020
- Tutored 12 students a week one on one in thesis statements, organization and citation.
- Led 6 drop-in workshops a semester on research papers for first-generation and multilingual students.
- Logged session notes for every visit, giving instructors feedback on 300 student drafts a year.
EDUCATION
Master of Arts, English, Composition and Rhetoric, California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA | 05/2020
SKILLS
English Composition, Developmental Reading, ESL, Curriculum Development, Peer Review, Canvas, Turnitin, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Cultural Sensitivity
CERTIFICATIONS
TESOL Certificate, UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education (12/2019)
How to write a professor resume
Write a professor resume summary
- Start with your field, your highest degree and your years of college teaching, counting graduate teaching assistant work.
- Say what kind of institution you teach at and what you teach: community college composition, BSN clinicals, large intro courses or graduate seminars.
- For tenure-track roles, add your research area and one funding or publication fact, such as an NSF grant or a book under contract.
- For clinical and nursing faculty, put your license and years of practice in the first line.
Adjunct Faculty summary (entry level)
Adjunct faculty member in communication studies with 2 years of college teaching as an adjunct and 2 more as a graduate teaching assistant. Teaches 4 sections a term, builds courses in Canvas and Blackboard, and uses rubrics, fast written feedback and critical thinking exercises to build students' public speaking and communication skills.
English Instructor summary (mid level)
English instructor with 6 years of teaching English composition, developmental reading and ESL to college and adult learners. Teaches 5 sections a term at a community college, runs peer review workshops and short PowerPoint lessons, and brings cultural sensitivity to classes where 40% of students speak another language at home.
Associate Professor summary (senior level)
Associate professor of mechanical engineering with 10 years of faculty experience in heat transfer and thermal systems, tenured in 2022. Leads a 9-person lab with $2.4 million in external funding, directs the undergraduate program through ABET accreditation, and teaches thermodynamics and finite element analysis.
Write professor experience bullets
- Give your teaching load: courses or sections a term, course titles and about how many students.
- Show student results, such as pass rates, D/F/W rates, completion, NCLEX pass rates or course ratings, with the before and after when you changed a course.
- Count mentoring and advising: majors advised, theses supervised, PhD students, and students who presented or co-authored.
- For research roles, list grants with amount and funder, and lab size; keep the full publication list for your CV.
English Instructor experience bullets
- Teach 5 sections of English Composition and Critical Reading each term, about 140 students.
- Rebuilt the developmental English sequence as one corequisite course, raising transfer-level pass rates from 58% to 71%.
- Grade essays in Canvas with shared rubrics, check sources in Turnitin and return comments within 7 days.
- Coordinate a 6-instructor curriculum development team that rewrote outcomes and assessments for 3 courses.
Pick the skills for a professor resume
- Communication (about 22% of postings) and interpersonal skills (about 15%) come first; show them through feedback turnaround, office hours and advising numbers.
- Name your learning management system; Canvas appears in about 6% of postings, and Blackboard, Gradescope and Turnitin are worth listing if you use them.
- Add Microsoft Office (about 5%) and PowerPoint (about 4%), plus the tools of your field, such as Python, R, SPSS or simulation equipment.
Do's and don'ts
Do this
- Put a number on every course: sections, students, ratings or pass rates.
- Match the title in the posting; employers post most as adjunct, adjunct faculty, assistant professor and adjunct instructor.
- List your degrees with the field and year at the top of education, since many postings require a master's or doctorate in the subject.
- Keep the resume to one page and send your full CV, teaching philosophy and references when the posting asks for them.
Avoid this
- Don't paste your whole publication list into a one-page resume; pick the work that fits the role.
- Don't describe teaching as "taught various courses"; name the courses and the students.
- Don't leave out your learning management system and grading tools.
- Don't use the same document for a research university and a community college; one weighs grants and papers, the other teaching load and student success.
Related resume examples
- Library Assistant
- Tutor
- Academic Advisor
- Instructional Designer
- School Principal
- Teacher
- Assistant Teacher
- Substitute Teacher
Professor resume questions
What should I put on a professor resume?
Your field and degrees, your college teaching with courses and student numbers, advising and mentoring, any grants or research, and your teaching tools. About 26% of employers ask for excellent oral and written communication skills, and about 15% ask for teaching experience at the college or university level. The duties they name most are keeping grading and student records, giving timely feedback and advising students.
Should I send a resume or an academic CV?
Send what the posting asks for. About 13% of employers ask for a curriculum vitae, and about 7% ask for three professional references with it. A one-page resume works well for adjunct, instructor and teaching-track roles and for jobs outside a university, while research faculty searches usually want the full CV with every publication.
How do I write an adjunct professor or adjunct faculty resume?
Lead with the subjects you can teach, your sections a term and your learning management system, then add the industry or professional work that backs your teaching. Adjunct titles are the most common in this career's postings, and the adjunct examples here ask for about 3 years (adjunct faculty) and about 2 years (adjunct professor) of experience. Show one result per course, such as a pass rate that went up after you redesigned a project.
How much experience do professor jobs ask for?
Of the 2,157 postings that state experience, the median ask is 2 years, and about 17% ask for a year or less. English instructor roles in the examples ask for about 1 year, adjunct professor and assistant professor roles for about 2, and adjunct faculty, nursing instructor and assistant teaching professor roles for about 3. Graduate teaching assistant work and postdoctoral teaching count toward it.
What should an assistant professor resume include?
Your PhD and postdoc, the courses you teach with ratings, the students you mentor, grants with amounts and your research area in one line. The computer science example lists a $175,000 NSF grant, 4 PhD students and course ratings of 4.6/5. If you are applying to a teaching-focused college, move teaching and advising above research.
How do I write a nursing instructor resume?
Put your RN license, your master's in nursing and your years of clinical practice at the top; about 6% of employers ask for a master's in nursing. Then show clinical groups, simulation days, lecture hours and student results. The nursing instructor example cites a 94% NCLEX-RN pass rate for its 2025 cohort.