20 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You might split the day between course work and publishing tasks. Morning: prepare and deliver a 60–90 minute lecture using Microsoft PowerPoint and Blackboard Collaborate, then hold 30–60 minute online office hours in Microsoft Teams or Google Docs for student questions.
Afternoon: review and edit manuscripts in Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat Reader, update schedules in Microsoft Excel, answer email in Microsoft Outlook, and attend a departmental meeting. Evenings often include reading new research to keep abreast of developments in the field.
Start with Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat Reader — you’ll edit manuscripts, write grant proposals, and prepare letters of recommendation in Word, then share PDFs with reviewers in Acrobat.
Next learn Microsoft Outlook (email/calendar), Excel (scheduling and simple data), and Blackboard Collaborate or Google Docs for online teaching and collaborative course materials. Safari or any browser helps access journals and databases.
You’ll balance both: schedule blocks for manuscript reviews and research, then set firm teaching hours for lectures, discussions, and student advising. Manuscript review often requires careful reading in Word or Acrobat, while teaching needs real-time tools like Blackboard Collaborate.
Departments expect you to participate in campus events and collaborate with colleagues on both teaching and research, so plan weekly time for committee work, bibliographies for courses, and writing original pieces or grant proposals.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports 57,720 employed in this occupational area. Median annual pay is $78,760; the lowest 10% earn about $48,270 and the highest 10% about $137,250 per year.
Actual pay varies by employer, location, experience, and whether you do a lot of grant-funded research or consulting. Use BLS for national benchmarks.
Get strong skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and a teaching platform like Blackboard Collaborate or Google Docs. Volunteer to help a faculty member with manuscript editing or grant proposal writing so you have specific examples to show.
Take courses in writing, editing, and pedagogy. Experience running online classes, compiling bibliographies, or serving on student groups looks good. Keep a portfolio of edited documents and sample lesson plans.
It’s a hybrid. Unlike a pure university instructor, you’ll also perform publishing duties: reviewing manuscripts, writing grant proposals, and preparing publications. Unlike a pure editor, you teach, advise students, and run classes using Blackboard Collaborate or other platforms.
Expect administrative duties too — scheduling courses, serving as a department head, and participating in campus events — so the job sits between teaching and scholarly publishing.
Mastering Microsoft Word for advanced editing — track changes, styles, referencing tools, and converting to PDF for Acrobat — is the single most useful technical skill. You’ll use it daily for manuscripts, letters of recommendation, and grant text.
You’re good enough when you can clean a poorly formatted document into publishable form in one pass, create consistent styles, and export error-free PDFs for reviewers. Time yourself: if you can do that in 30–90 minutes for a 5–10 page paper, you’re ready.