<p>Okay, this is a dumb question I realize. When selecting potential faculty you'd like to work with (humanities, not sciences), what title should they hold? I'm seeing a lot of people whose work intrigues me, but their associate professors, etc; rather than full professor. Is that okay?</p>
<p>This could vary from university to university, but I think it’s difficult to tell whether someone has tenure from their title. Assistant professors could have tenure, associate professors usually do, and I doubt there are many full professors who don’t have tenure. It shouldn’t really matter what their title is, but if you want to be really safe, I guess avoiding assistant professors would be wise. Also, you can probably discover whether a professor has tenure or not through some googling.</p>
<p>If their work intrigues you, then you probably shouldn’t worry about their title.</p>
<p>(I’m assuming you’re implicitly referring to tenure, instead of, say, the quality of their work or something.)</p>
<p>Yeah, just tenure. From what I’ve read, you shouldn’t (and in some cases can’t) have a non-tenured person over-see your work. Both because they can leave the University and because in some cases that is not standard for the given department.</p>
<p>Thank you for the response it was quite helpful.</p>
<p>You could also just e-mail the person and ask if s/he is taking on graduate students.</p>
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<p>Even someone taking grad students is subject to being denied tenure and having to leave, if they don’t already have tenure.</p>
<p>At most places that I’ve seen, associate profs do have tenure, so you should be all right.</p>
<p>I have heard the view that it’s reasonable to have an untenured (but still tenure-track) prof be your advisor if you really want to have the experience of working under them, but that you should develop a relationship with a tenured prof who could take over as your advisor if the one you start out with has to leave.</p>
<p>You could also write to the DGS, explain your interests, and ask their opinion on the most appropriate people to contact etc.</p>