Community Nursing Faculty Careers

Community nursing is the branch of nursing concerned with providing health care within the public health setting. For instance, as indicated by a syllabus posted on-line for Humboldt State University, community nursing courses typically teach students about epidemiology and nursing in multicultural settings. Faculty careers in this field require specialized training in public health and nursing.

Adjunct Nursing Faculty

• A perusal of several of the iInternet job posting sites reveals the fact that various colleges and community colleges require the services of adjunct nurse educators. Adjunct faculty members are, by definition, part-time faculty members whose duties revolve primarily around teaching (as opposed to teaching and research, which is usually required of university professors).

  Community health nursing adjunct faculty members instruct nursing students in the basics of public health nursing, focusing on basic nursing and health assessment skills. Depending upon the institution, adjunct faculty members may be assigned additional duties in terms of committee assignments, recruitment of students and other duties the colleges may need them to fulfill.

  The minimum education required to teach nursing at the college level is a master's degree in nursing, usually with a specialization in nursing education or the area of specialization in which the instructor will be utilized. In the nursing profession, faculty members usually need to licensed registered nurses in the state in which they teach, as well.

  Because adjunct faculty members are part-time employees, pay can vary greatly among differing institutions and locations.

University Public Health Nursing Assistant Professor

• Full-time nursing faculty members differ somewhat from part-time faculty members, especially in terms of the expected commitment to ongoing research in the field. Whereas adjunct faculty members can focus almost exclusively on teaching, full-time faculty members at universities have to focus on research in addition to teaching. The academic mantra "publish or perish" generally applies to academic faculty members at universities, regardless of what discipline they teach.

  Although a master's degree can suffice for some faculty positions, at the university level, a doctorate degree is almost universally preferred. Typically, those holding a Ph.D. in nursing are given preference over those holding the D.N.P. (Doctor of Nursing Practice) because of the research emphasis of the degree. Some colleges and universities may prefer to hire faculty members who have significant experience in the field of public health outside of the academic setting as well.

  According to salary.com, the median annual salary of nursing professors was $56,953 as of November 2009.

Associate and Full Professors of Geriatric Nursing

• Community-based nursing can refer nursing duties performed on behalf of specific segments of the general population such as the elderly community. Some universities hire faculty members whose specializations provide them with the expertise to train nurses in these areas.

  A recent job posting by the University of Oklahoma, for instance, called for faculty members who have a specialization in community-based aging research. Research in this area might include cancer support, palliative care, mental health research, technology and cognitive aging, violence prevention and symptom management.

  As with other full-time faculty positions in nursing at the university level, applicants to these types of positions need to hold a Ph.D. in the field and possibly several years of nursing experience. The median annual salary of associate and full professors in November 2009 in this field was $67,717 and $81,695, respectively.