Is there a standard English translation of ausserordentlicher Professor?

Question

Of course the exact status of the title has changed in different places and times.

I mean it most specifically in the sense of Emmy Noether's title at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in 1923: nicht beamteter Außerordentlicher Professor. But I doubt there is a standard translation for that specific situation.

My question is, as in the title, is there a current, standard English translation of the basic phrase Außerordentlicher Professor?

By a standard translation I mean one that is currently in widespread use, in contrast to one that I or another person thinks should be an accurate way to describe the position.

However, a look at the confusion of the English language Wikipedia Ranks in Germany convinces me there is none so I was in process of deleting this question when an answer appeared. Now I will wait and see what happens,

Answer 1

First, the expression "außerordentlicher Professor" is no longer in current widespread use in Germany (although still understood; the exception is, as so often, Bavaria); a non-ordinary professor position is now usually referred to as "W2" (after the pay scale) or, in some states, "W3 ohne Leitungsfunktion". Most people who now hold such a position would translate it as "associate professor", although there are a number of significant differences between the positions that make this translation misleading in some regards.

It is also a very different position from the one Emmy Noether held (which was unpaid, for a start). In fact, Emmy Noether's position was actually that of an "außerplanmäßiger Professor", a title given to tenured university assistants after their habilitation, which entails most of the academic, but very few of the administrative, rights of a university professor. (The "nicht beamtet" previously disambiguated the two positions; the title was renamed during the Nazi regime.) This position -- which no longer exists in the German system, and, confusingly, was called "außerordentlicher Professor" (and now "assoziierter Professor") in the Austrian system -- has no analogue outside the very hierarchical traditional German system. Hence there is no canonical translation; if pushed, I would translate it either as "tenured research assistant" or "lecturer" (if there is no danger of confusion with the UK title, which would give the wrong idea), both capturing (different) aspects of the position.

Especially in a historical work, I would therefore do exactly what the English wikipedia article on Emmy Noether does -- use the original German title and give a parenthetical explanation:

the title of nicht beamteter ausserordentlicher Professor (an untenured professor with limited internal administrative rights and functions)

Answer 2

The concept of Ordinariat (a Latin word used in the German-speaking academic circles) is similar to the English chair. A non-ordinary professor is a professor who does not have the responsibility of a chair.

So that would translate often to "associate professor" depending on the individual situation and local practice.

Keep in mind that since academic hierarchy varies a lot between countries and that it is not always possible to translate positions, and that is not a question of language. In doubt the safest thing would be to use the original title.

Answer 3

As a counterpoint to Cape Code's answer, in Austria an Außerordentlicher Professor generally has tenure, at least in the sense that her or is position is not time-bound. The main difference here is that a "full" professor holds a chair ("Lehrstuhl") and has been appointed through a (nowadays international) faculty search with all its formal procedure. An Außerordentlicher Professor has often held a long-term postdoc in the same university when (s)he applied and received "Habilitation", and has been made Außerordentlicher Professor and received tenure as part of standard habilitation practices.

An Außerordentlicher Professor formally holds no chair and is instead associated to a specific chair in the university hierarchy, although what this means in practice varies widely given that an Außerordentlicher Professor is still a professor with all the guaranteed independence of teaching and research. The widely accepted English translation is "Associate Professor", although this transports the (wrong) message that Außerordentlicher Professor is an intermediary career step from which there is a clear progression to a chaired professorship. Instead, many (or in some institutions, most) researchers who become Außerordentlicher Professor remain in this position for life.

In Austria, this position is now widely considered a legacy of former times. Automatic promotion to tenured Außerordentlicher Professor when successfully defending a habilitation is as a practice discontinued in most departments, and there is no formal way to become Außerordentlicher Professor in the traditional sense otherwise. Many departments nowadays use this title much more in line with the US meaning. That is, younger new hires sometimes are hired on the rank Außerordentlicher Professor, with a an agreed-up promotion to regular professor after an evaluation phase (e.g., 5 years).