Faculty are the academic teaching and research employees of a school or university, while staff are the broader group of employees who handle administrative, technical, and support work that keeps the place running.

Simple definition

  • Faculty : Professors, lecturers, instructors, and researchers who teach classes, advise students, and do academic research.
  • Staff : Everyone employed by the institution who is not in a teaching/research faculty role, such as administrators, office workers, IT, finance, student services, maintenance, and facilities.

A handy way to remember it:

Faculty = teaching and research people; Staff = all the people who keep everything else working (and sometimes includes faculty in a broad HR sense).

Key differences in role and scope

  • Faculty:
    • Focus on teaching, research, and academic service (committees, curriculum, advising).
* Usually require advanced degrees (like a master’s or PhD).

* Titles include assistant professor, associate professor, professor, lecturer, researcher, instructor, etc.
  • Staff:
    • Focus on administration and support: admissions, finance, HR, IT, student affairs, library, facilities, etc.
* Education requirements vary widely (from specific technical skills to general degrees).

* Titles include registrar, advisor, HR specialist, IT technician, secretary, dean’s assistant, custodian, etc.

In many institutions, all faculty are technically part of the overall staff (because everyone is an employee), but in everyday speech people use “faculty” and “staff” as separate groups.

Mini example (how it looks in real life)

Imagine a university:

  • You email your professor about homework → you’re talking to faculty.
  • You email the registrar’s office about your transcript → you’re talking to staff.
  • You ask IT support to fix your login → staff.
  • You meet a research supervisor for your thesis → faculty.

Quick HTML table: faculty vs staff

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Aspect</th>
      <th>Faculty</th>
      <th>Staff</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Main role</td>
      <td>Teaching, research, academic service[web:1][web:3][web:5]</td>
      <td>Administrative, technical, and support tasks[web:1][web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Who they are</td>
      <td>Professors, lecturers, instructors, researchers[web:1][web:5][web:7]</td>
      <td>Administrators, advisors, IT, HR, finance, maintenance, etc.[web:1][web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Scope of term</td>
      <td>Specific to academic roles in education[web:3][web:5]</td>
      <td>All employees in an organization (not just schools)[web:3][web:5][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Typical qualifications</td>
      <td>Advanced degrees (often master’s or PhD)[web:1][web:8]</td>
      <td>Varies widely by job, from technical certificates to degrees[web:1][web:8]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Employment structure</td>
      <td>Often tenure-track, tenured, or contract academic appointments[web:1][web:8]</td>
      <td>Typically regular employment (often at-will or fixed-term)[web:1][web:8]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

TL;DR

Faculty = teaching and research roles (professors, lecturers, etc.); staff = the wider group of non-teaching employees who keep the institution operating day to day.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.