What is the difference between a composition professor and a creative writing professor?

Composition professors primarily teach expository and argumentative writing — first-year writing, research writing, and technical or professional writing. Their scholarly field is typically rhetoric and composition, which has its own research journals, professional organization (CCCC), and theoretical frameworks. Creative writing professors teach fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, or mixed genres and typically hold an MFA or publish primarily in literary venues. Both may teach in English departments, but they represent distinct professional communities with different hiring criteria.

What is the tenure process for a Writing Professor?

Tenure-track writing professors go through a 5–6 year probationary period followed by a formal review of their teaching, scholarship, and service. Research universities weight publication most heavily; teaching-focused institutions weight teaching effectiveness. For composition and rhetoric faculty, the research record typically means peer-reviewed articles in journals like CCC, Written Communication, or Rhetoric Society Quarterly, or a scholarly book manuscript. For creative writing faculty, the book count — and the prestige of the publisher — is often the primary metric.

Why do many college writing courses rely heavily on adjunct instructors?

First-year composition is required at most colleges and universities, creating a large, consistent demand for composition instruction. Institutions have found it economically easier to staff these courses with adjunct instructors paid per course than to create full-time faculty lines. The result is that a significant majority of college composition sections in the U.S. are taught by instructors with no job security, low pay, and no path to tenure. The Coalition on the Academic Workforce and related advocacy organizations have documented this labor structure extensively.

What research does a rhetoric and composition professor produce?

Research in rhetoric and composition typically investigates how writers develop, how writing instruction works (or doesn't), how writing functions across disciplines and professions, how digital tools change writing practices, how assessment affects student writers, or how particular rhetorical traditions address specific communicative challenges. Methods include empirical studies of writing development, textual analysis, ethnographic classroom research, historical rhetoric scholarship, and writing program assessment.

How is AI affecting college writing instruction at the faculty level?

Writing faculty are at the center of institutional debates about AI in academia. Many are redesigning courses around process-based assessment, in-class writing, and oral defenses of written work — approaches that make AI authorship harder to substitute for genuine student writing. Some are incorporating AI tools explicitly into pedagogy, having students write with and against AI-generated drafts to understand what AI does and doesn't do. Faculty who engage thoughtfully with these questions are shaping institutional policy in ways that go well beyond their individual courses.

Education

Writing Professor

Last updated May 13, 2026

At a glance

Salary (USD)$72K

$55K low$115K high

Read time: 8 min
Last updated: May 13, 2026

Salary methodology

Our proprietary model combines official data from sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and industry compensation reports, along with publicly available job postings, posting details, and other market signals, to identify what we believe is a representative range for this role.

These figures are directional and provided for informational and educational purposes only. Actual compensation varies by employer, location, experience, certifications, and negotiation, and should not be relied upon for hiring, salary-negotiation, or financial- planning decisions.

Role-specific factorsSalary range spans full-time non-tenure-track instructor positions at community colleges ($55K–$75K) through assistant professors at universities ($65K–$90K) to tenured full professors at large research universities ($90K–$115K+). Adjunct composition instructors, who teach the majority of college writing courses in the U.S., typically earn $3,000–$5,000 per course with no benefits — the economics of adjunct work are excluded from the median figure above, which reflects full-time employment.

Writing Professors teach college-level writing courses — first-year composition, advanced writing, rhetoric, creative writing, or professional writing — while fulfilling research and service obligations at their institution. The role spans tenure-track faculty positions in rhetoric and composition, non-tenure-track full-time instructor positions, and adjunct appointments, each with distinct job security, compensation, and expectations.

Role at a glance

Typical education: PhD in Rhetoric and Composition, MFA, or MA in English/Education
Typical experience: Documented college-level teaching experience required
Key certifications: None typically required
Top employer types: Four-year universities, community colleges, educational publishing, instructional design firms, corporate learning departments
Growth outlook: Stratified market; limited tenure-track openings but growing demand for non-tenure-track and adjunct roles
AI impact (through 2030): Strong tailwind — new professional demand is emerging for faculty who can integrate AI evaluation and design AI-informed curricula into writing pedagogy.

Duties and responsibilities

Teach 2–4 courses per semester in composition, rhetoric, creative writing, or professional writing, depending on position type
Design course syllabi, assignment sequences, and assessment rubrics aligned with program and institutional learning outcomes
Provide detailed written and oral feedback on student writing at multiple stages: drafts, peer review, revision, and final submission
Hold regular office hours for individual student writing conferences and academic advising on writing-intensive coursework
Conduct original scholarly research in rhetoric, composition theory, writing studies, creative writing, or related field (for tenure-track positions)
Publish research in peer-reviewed journals, books, or creative venues commensurate with institutional expectations
Serve on departmental curriculum committees, writing program governance, and university assessment initiatives
Mentor graduate students through composition pedagogy preparation if teaching in an MA or PhD program
Participate in writing program professional development and contribute to program curriculum review
Advise undergraduate students on course selection, writing-intensive majors, and writing-related career preparation

Overview

A Writing Professor teaches people to write better — at the college level, in courses ranging from first-year composition to advanced seminars in rhetoric, professional writing, or creative writing. The teaching work is central regardless of the faculty's institutional appointment type, though what surrounds that teaching differs significantly between tenure-track and non-tenure-track positions.

The composition classroom at the college level is one of the most consequential teaching contexts in higher education. First-year writing courses are required at most institutions and reach students across all majors — engineering students, nursing students, history majors, undecided freshmen. The writing professor who teaches those courses is often one of the first faculty members students interact with seriously, and the experience shapes students' understanding of academic work broadly, not just writing.

For tenure-track writing professors, research is a parallel major commitment. The field of rhetoric and composition has a robust scholarly literature addressing how writing is learned, how it functions in different contexts, how writing programs should be organized, and how writing instruction relates to broader questions of literacy, power, and communication. Contributing to that literature through peer-reviewed publication is a central professional obligation that competes directly with teaching preparation and service.

Service in writing programs tends to be heavier than in many other areas of the humanities, because writing programs require ongoing governance work — placement assessment, course sequence evaluation, TA supervision and development, writing center oversight — that falls primarily to writing faculty rather than to administrators. This service load is worth understanding before accepting a position in a composition program.

Qualifications

Education:

PhD in Rhetoric and Composition (standard for tenure-track composition positions)
MFA in Creative Writing (standard for creative writing faculty positions; PhD increasingly expected at research universities)
MA in English, Education, or Communication accepted for many full-time non-tenure-track and community college positions

Research and scholarship (tenure-track positions):

Published record in peer-reviewed composition/rhetoric journals or creative venues
Active research agenda with a clear intellectual project
Conference presentations at CCCC, RSA, NCTE, AWP, or equivalent

Teaching qualifications:

Documented experience teaching college writing across multiple course levels
Teaching philosophy statement
Record of effective teaching from student evaluations and course materials
Experience supervising or mentoring undergraduate or graduate writers

Writing pedagogy knowledge:

Process approaches, workshop pedagogy, and writing across the curriculum frameworks
Assessment: portfolio assessment, rubric design, programmatic outcomes assessment
Digital writing: multimodal composition, writing in digital environments
Diversity and inclusion in writing instruction: working with multilingual writers, navigating standard English ideology

Administrative and program knowledge (preferred for leadership positions):

Writing program administration: course scheduling, TA supervision, placement assessment
Writing center theory and practice
Curriculum development and learning outcomes design

Career outlook

The academic job market for writing faculty is stratified by position type in ways that require careful navigation. Tenure-track positions in rhetoric and composition are limited and competitive — fewer than 100 appear nationally in any given year, and applicant pools are large. Adjunct and part-time composition instructor positions are plentiful but financially unsustainable as a primary career. Full-time, benefits-eligible non-tenure-track instructor and lecturer positions occupy a middle ground that has grown as institutions recognize they can't staff writing programs entirely on adjunct labor.

Community colleges hire full-time English composition faculty more readily than four-year universities, often with reasonable salaries, full benefits, and lighter research expectations. For people whose primary professional identity is as a writing teacher rather than a writing researcher, community college faculty positions represent a viable and stable career path.

Outside of academia, people who have trained as writing professors and writing researchers have transferable skills for a range of non-academic careers: content strategy, UX writing, science communication, curriculum development, educational publishing, instructional design, and corporate learning and development. The challenge is that many academic writing programs don't prepare graduates for these paths explicitly, requiring intentional career development work alongside the doctoral program.

The AI disruption to writing education is creating new professional demand for people who can help institutions navigate these questions thoughtfully. Writing program administrators, curriculum developers, and education technology companies are seeking people who combine deep knowledge of writing pedagogy with the ability to evaluate AI tools critically and design AI-informed curricula. Writing professors who develop this expertise are positioned for roles that didn't exist five years ago.

Sample cover letter

Dear Search Committee,

I am applying for the Assistant Professor of Writing (Rhetoric and Composition) position at [University]. I am completing my PhD in Rhetoric and Composition at [University], where my dissertation examines [research focus — e.g., transfer of writing knowledge from first-year composition to upper-division writing in STEM disciplines].

My teaching experience includes four semesters as a primary instructor for first-year composition and two semesters co-teaching an upper-division writing in the professions course. My teaching approach centers on building metalinguistic awareness — helping students understand what choices they're making as writers and why those choices produce the effects they do on different audiences. I've found that students who can articulate why a particular revision improves a piece are more likely to apply that understanding in new writing contexts than students who can revise under direct instruction but can't explain the principle behind the change.

My scholarship engages with [specific theoretical area or debate in the field]. I have published one article in [journal] and have a manuscript under review at [journal]. My next project investigates [next research direction], and I expect to have an article-length version ready for submission within the next year.

I am particularly drawn to [specific program features or institutional strengths at the institution]. I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss how my research and teaching align with what your department is building.

Thank you for your consideration.

[Your Name] [Email] | [Phone] | [Academic Website or Portfolio]

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a composition professor and a creative writing professor?: Composition professors primarily teach expository and argumentative writing — first-year writing, research writing, and technical or professional writing. Their scholarly field is typically rhetoric and composition, which has its own research journals, professional organization (CCCC), and theoretical frameworks. Creative writing professors teach fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, or mixed genres and typically hold an MFA or publish primarily in literary venues. Both may teach in English departments, but they represent distinct professional communities with different hiring criteria.
What is the tenure process for a Writing Professor?: Tenure-track writing professors go through a 5–6 year probationary period followed by a formal review of their teaching, scholarship, and service. Research universities weight publication most heavily; teaching-focused institutions weight teaching effectiveness. For composition and rhetoric faculty, the research record typically means peer-reviewed articles in journals like CCC, Written Communication, or Rhetoric Society Quarterly, or a scholarly book manuscript. For creative writing faculty, the book count — and the prestige of the publisher — is often the primary metric.
Why do many college writing courses rely heavily on adjunct instructors?: First-year composition is required at most colleges and universities, creating a large, consistent demand for composition instruction. Institutions have found it economically easier to staff these courses with adjunct instructors paid per course than to create full-time faculty lines. The result is that a significant majority of college composition sections in the U.S. are taught by instructors with no job security, low pay, and no path to tenure. The Coalition on the Academic Workforce and related advocacy organizations have documented this labor structure extensively.
What research does a rhetoric and composition professor produce?: Research in rhetoric and composition typically investigates how writers develop, how writing instruction works (or doesn't), how writing functions across disciplines and professions, how digital tools change writing practices, how assessment affects student writers, or how particular rhetorical traditions address specific communicative challenges. Methods include empirical studies of writing development, textual analysis, ethnographic classroom research, historical rhetoric scholarship, and writing program assessment.
How is AI affecting college writing instruction at the faculty level?: Writing faculty are at the center of institutional debates about AI in academia. Many are redesigning courses around process-based assessment, in-class writing, and oral defenses of written work — approaches that make AI authorship harder to substitute for genuine student writing. Some are incorporating AI tools explicitly into pedagogy, having students write with and against AI-generated drafts to understand what AI does and doesn't do. Faculty who engage thoughtfully with these questions are shaping institutional policy in ways that go well beyond their individual courses.

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