Occupational Categories

Delta State University’s employees hold positions that are designated in the identified occupational categories.

Employee: a person who is working on paid appointments by the University in a faculty, staff, adjunct, temporary, intermittent, time-limited, student, or graduate assistant capacity. For specific information on who is considered an employee, contact the Office of Human Resources.

Occupational Category: is used by the University to classify workers for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data. All workers are classified into one of eight categories according to their occupational definition. Each broad occupational category includes detailed occupation(s) requiring similar job duties, skills, education, or experience.

Job classification is the formal assignment of a classification title and salary grade to a job or a group of jobs that are so similar in duties and responsibilities that they justify common treatment in selection, compensation, and other employment processes. Positions at the University are classified according to designated occupational categories. The following are the occupational categories used at Delta State University.

Executive, Administrative, Managerial
Includes all employees whose assignments require primary and major responsibility for management of the University or a recognized department or subunit thereof.

Faculty
Includes all employees whose assignments are made for the purpose of conducting instruction, research, or public service as a principal activity and who hold academic-rank titles of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, lecturer, or the equivalent of any one of these ranks.

Other Professionals
Includes all employees whose assignments are made for the purpose of performing academic support, student service, and institutional support activities and require a relatively long and specialized preparation at the higher education level or experience of such kind and amount as to provide comparable background.

Clerical/Secretarial
Includes all employees whose assignments are associated with clerical activities or are specifically of a secretarial nature.

Technical/Paraprofessional
Includes all employees whose assignments require specialized knowledge or skills that may be acquired through experience or academic work such as that offered at two-year technical, institutes, community and junior colleges, or through equivalent on-the-job-training.

Skilled Crafts
Includes all employees whose assignments require special manual skills and a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the processes involved in the work. Preparation for these positions is normally acquired through on-the-job training and experience and other formal training programs.

Service/Maintenance
Includes all employees whose assignments require limited degrees of previously acquired skills and knowledge and in which workers perform duties which result in, or contribute to, the comfort, convenience, and hygiene of personnel, or which contribute to the upkeep and care of buildings, facilities, or grounds.

Student (Undergraduate/Graduate)
Includes all employees whose work assignments are secondary to their pursuit of academic goals or objectives and who are enrolled as either undergraduate or graduate students.

Responsible Office and/or Policy Owner: Office of Human Resources

• None

Active

Reviewed by the Office of Human Resources: 03/29/2019
Approved by Cabinet: 06/03/2019