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[cocoa]

In the last several years post-PhD, I have been realizing how little I know about academia. I have a question that I don't know whom to ask IRL and I debated where to post it on the fora. This forum doesn't attract as much traffic, but I guess it is the most appropriate.

My current university divides faculty into two categories, instructional and non-instructional, the latter being further sub-divided into (1) researchers, (2) librarians, and (3) another category I'll call XYZ. (This is not, let me make clear, "staff.") I currently hold one of these XYZ positions, and as I am contemplating a job move, I am finding that many (most?) of the jobs for which I would like to apply are staff positions, not XYZ positions.

This makes me wonder how common this XYZ category is in academia. Does your university have this category? I tried searching a few university websites (including my own), and I was unable to find this information.

[polly_mer]

Without telling us what XYZ is, how in the world are we supposed to answer your question?

Non-instructional faculty can be all kinds of things including project managers and project support along with various things that are sometimes considered administration or staff, but not always.  I've seen researchers and librarians classified as staff.

If you want an answer that helps you, then you have to be more specific than XYZ.

[chronanon]

Do you ask just because you're curious or because you think it impacts your job search?  If the latter, and if it's tenure you want, then try to negotiate for a long term contract or negotiate for a tenured position with an academic department in addition to the job at hand or suck it up and work at will or stay where you are.  Regardless of whether it's a common or uncommon classification, you won't be able to change the classification of the jobs you're interested in.

[cj405]

I worked at a university where Administrative and Professional Faculty was a job category.  It was a little more inclusive than what you are describing, I think.  To give you an idea, my title was Coordinator of (Academic Support) Program.  Honestly, I think it was just a meaningless distinction.  A&P Faculty were administrators of various stripes.  Some positions, like mine, had high student contact while others did not.  Very few of those positions were TT.

At my current school, my title and my actual job are almost identical.  I don't think I gave much thought to the fact that I was leaving an A&P Faculty position for a staff position when I made the move.  I also highly doubt anyone on the search committee noticed.

Here there are about 15 categories that count as staff.  The lowest level staff positions require a GED or HS diploma and the highest require a PhD. 

So, to make a long story short, I haven't noticed much of a difference now that my title is less fancy.  I even make more money here as a staff member - which is truly a sad story, but that's for another thread all together.