Faculty vs. Staff: Know the Difference
By Shumaila Saeed || Updated on December 25, 2023
Faculty refers to the academic staff of a university or college, responsible for teaching and research, while staff encompasses all employees in an organization, including administrative and support roles.
Key Differences
Faculty members are educators and researchers in an academic institution, primarily involved in teaching, scholarship, and academic service. Staff, on the other hand, includes a broader range of employees who support the institution's operations, such as administrators, IT personnel, and maintenance workers.
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Nov 19, 2023
The role of faculty is typically focused on creating and disseminating knowledge, guiding students, and contributing to academic fields. Staff roles are more varied, ranging from administrative duties to facility management, playing a crucial role in the smooth functioning of the institution.
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Nov 19, 2023
Faculty positions usually require specialized academic qualifications and expertise in a particular field of study. Staff positions, while they may also require specialized skills, are more diverse in terms of educational background and job functions.
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Nov 19, 2023
Faculty members are often involved in governance and policy-making within the academic sphere of the institution. Staff members, although essential to operations, are generally not involved in academic decision-making but may have roles in administrative governance.
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Nov 19, 2023
The career progression and evaluation of faculty typically depend on academic achievements like research and publication. For staff, career advancement is often based on administrative or technical expertise and job performance.
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Nov 19, 2023
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Comparison Chart
Focus Area
Academic and educational
Varied, including administration, IT, maintenance
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Involvement in Governance
Academic policy and curriculum
Institutional administration, not academic policy
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Career Progression
Based on academic achievements
Based on job performance and expertise
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Faculty and Staff Definitions
Faculty
Academic staff involved in teaching and research.
The faculty at the university is renowned for their research.
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Staff
Employees who support the operations of an organization.
The staff includes both administrative assistants and maintenance workers.
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Faculty
Collective body of teachers and researchers.
The faculty collaborated on a multidisciplinary project.
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Staff
Collective term for employees in various roles.
The school’s staff are dedicated to supporting student success.
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Faculty
Group of academic staff in a particular department or field.
The Faculty of Science includes several distinguished physicists.
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Faculty
A talent or natural ability for something
Has a wonderful faculty for storytelling.
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Faculty
(used with a sing. or pl. verb) The teachers and instructors of a school or college, or of one of its divisions, especially those considered permanent, full-time employees.
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Staff
Pl. staffs A rule or similar graduated stick used for testing or measuring, as in surveying.
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Staff
A group of assistants to a manager, executive, or other person in authority.
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Staff
A group of military officers assigned to assist a commanding officer in an executive or advisory capacity.
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Staff
The personnel who carry out a specific enterprise
The nursing staff of a hospital.
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Faculty
The academic staff at schools, colleges, universities or not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the students or support staff.
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Faculty
A division of a university.
She transferred from the Faculty of Science to the Faculty of Medicine.
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Staff
(Music) A set of horizontal lines and intermediate spaces used in notation to represent a sequence of pitches, in modern notation normally consisting of five lines and four spaces. Also called stave.
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Faculty
(Often in the plural): an ability, power, or skill.
He lived until he reached the age of 90 with most of his faculties intact.
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Staff
A building material of plaster and fiber used as an exterior wall covering of temporary buildings, as at expositions.
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Staff
A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
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Faculty
Ability to act or perform, whether inborn or cultivated; capacity for any natural function; especially, an original mental power or capacity for any of the well-known classes of mental activity; psychical or soul capacity; capacity for any of the leading kinds of soul activity, as knowledge, feeling, volition; intellectual endowment or gift; power; as, faculties of the mind or the soul.
But know that in the soulAre many lesser faculties that serveReason as chief.
What a piece of work is a man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty !
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Staff
A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave.
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Faculty
Special mental endowment; characteristic knack.
He had a ready faculty, indeed, of escaping from any topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous temperament.
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Staff
The employees of a business.
The company employed 10 new members of staff this month.
The company has taken on 1600 more highly-paid staff.
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Faculty
Power; prerogative or attribute of office.
This DuncanHath borne his faculties so meek.
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Staff
(uncountable) A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.W
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Faculty
Privilege or permission, granted by favor or indulgence, to do a particular thing; authority; license; dispensation.
The pope . . . granted him a faculty to set him free from his promise.
It had not only faculty to inspect all bishops' dioceses, but to change what laws and statutes they should think fit to alter among the colleges.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.
A constable's staff
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Faculty
A body of a men to whom any specific right or privilege is granted; formerly, the graduates in any of the four departments of a university or college (Philosophy, Law, Medicine, or Theology), to whom was granted the right of teaching (profitendi or docendi) in the department in which they had studied; at present, the members of a profession itself; as, the medical faculty; the legal faculty, etc.
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Oct 19, 2023
Faculty
The body of person to whom are intrusted the government and instruction of a college or university, or of one of its departments; the president, professors, and tutors in a college.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
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Oct 19, 2023
Faculty
The body of teachers and administrators at a school;
The dean addressed the letter to the entire staff of the university
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Oct 19, 2023
Faculty
Educators and scholars at a higher education institution.
She joined the faculty as a professor of history.
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Nov 16, 2023
Staff
(surgery) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
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Faculty
Teaching staff at a college or university.
The faculty meeting discussed new curriculum developments.
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Staff
(military) An establishment of officers in various departments attached to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander of an army. The general's staff consists of those officers about his person who are employed in carrying his commands into execution.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
A form of token once used, in combination with a ticket, for safe train movements between two points on a single line.
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Staff
(transitive) To supply (a business, volunteer organization, etc.) with employees or staff members.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
A long piece of wood; a stick; the long handle of an instrument or weapon; a pole or stick, used for many purposes; as, a surveyor's staff; the staff of a spear or pike.
And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar to bear it withal.
With forks and staves the felon to pursue.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
A stick carried in the hand for support or defense by a person walking; hence, a support; that which props or upholds.
The boy was the very staff of my age.
He spoke of it [beer] in "The Earnest Cry," and likewise in the "Scotch Drink," as one of the staffs of life which had been struck from the poor man's hand.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office; as, a constable's staff.
Methought this staff, mine office badge in court,Was broke in twain.
All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
The round of a ladder.
I ascended at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves.
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Staff
A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
The five lines and the spaces on which music is written; - formerly called stave.
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Staff
The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
An establishment of officers in various departments attached to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander of an army. The general's staff consists of those officers about his person who are employed in carrying his commands into execution. See État Major.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
Hence: A body of assistants serving to carry into effect the plans of a superintendent or manager; sometimes used for the entire group of employees of an enterprise, excluding the top management; as, the staff of a newspaper.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
Plaster combined with fibrous and other materials so as to be suitable for sculpture in relief or in the round, or for forming flat plates or boards of considerable size which can be nailed to framework to make the exterior of a larger structure, forming joints which may afterward be repaired and concealed with fresh plaster.
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
Personnel who assist their superior in carrying out an assigned task;
The hospital has an excellent nursing staff
The general relied on his staff to make routine decisions
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
The body of teachers and administrators at a school;
The dean addressed the letter to the entire staff of the university
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Staff
A strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose;
He walked with the help of a wooden staff
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Staff
Building material consisting of plaster and hair; used to cover external surfaces of temporary structure (as at an exposition) or for decoration
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
(music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written
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Oct 19, 2023
Staff
All non-faculty employees at an educational institution.
The staff meeting addressed changes in administrative procedures.
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Staff
Group of people employed for specific functions.
The IT staff quickly resolved the network issue.
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Staff
Personnel responsible for non-academic aspects of an institution.
The administrative staff plays a crucial role in university operations.
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Repeatedly Asked Queries
Can staff be involved in teaching?
Typically, staff do not teach, as this is the role of faculty.
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Nov 19, 2023
Do faculty participate in institutional governance?
Yes, faculty often partake in academic governance and policy-making.
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Are staff involved in academic decision-making?
Generally, staff are not involved in academic decisions but may have administrative roles.
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What kind of support do staff provide?
Staff provide operational, administrative, and technical support.
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Do staff members need specific degrees?
Staff roles may require specialized skills but not always specific degrees.
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Who is considered faculty?
Faculty refers to academic professionals like professors and lecturers.
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What roles do staff members have?
Staff members include administrators, technical support, and maintenance workers.
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Do faculty members conduct research?
Yes, faculty members often engage in research alongside teaching.
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Are faculty qualifications different from staff?
Faculty qualifications usually include advanced academic degrees.
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Is a faculty member's role static?
No, faculty roles can evolve with research, teaching, and service contributions.
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What is the role of staff in student affairs?
Staff often handle administrative aspects of student affairs.
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Do staff members interact with students?
Staff interact with students, mainly in administrative or support capacities.
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Can faculty have non-teaching roles?
Yes, faculty can hold research-focused positions without teaching responsibilities.
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What benefits do staff receive?
Staff benefits depend on their role and the institution's policies.
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How is professional development handled for faculty and staff?
Both faculty and staff have opportunities for professional development, often tailored to their roles.
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Can faculty members have administrative duties?
Faculty can have administrative duties, especially in leadership positions.
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Can a staff member become faculty?
Transitioning to faculty typically requires additional qualifications.
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Is job security different for faculty and staff?
Job security can vary, with some faculty positions offering tenure.
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Are there faculty-only departments?
Departments are generally faculty-focused but supported by staff.
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How are faculty evaluated?
Faculty are evaluated based on teaching, research, and academic service.
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Nov 19, 2023
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About Author
Written by
Shumaila SaeedShumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.
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Hifza Nasir
