From Professor Barack Obama to President Barack Obama

I am especially proud, as a professor myself, of the achievements of Professor Barack Obama who now has ascended from Professor of Law to President of the United States.

Many people who voted for him do not even know that he was a professor. He mainly kept that tucked away somewhere deep in his resume.

I too have found that when seeking challenges out in the real world, my experience as a professor tends to carry little weight and I keep it on page two of my resume.

During the latest campaign, Barack was challenged on occasion (not really that often) to confirm that indeed he was a real professor.

Some asked, Was Barack Obama a professor of law?

The University of Chicago Law School issued this official statement clarifying Barack Obama's status in his twelve years of teaching there, especially his role as "Senior Lecturer."

From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year.

Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status.

Like Obama, each of the Law School's Senior Lecturers has high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined.

So our congratulations to Professor Barack Obama on his new non-tenure-track position as the 44th President of the United States of America.