Adjunct is typically where all professors start their teaching career regardless of their capability. Thankfully Cruz quickly moved on from there to more important things.
Where the resume needs beef is with the Senate portion.
Our college seniority list works in this order (top to bottom):
Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Instructor (lowest level tenure track full time position)
Lecturer (year to year contract)
Adjunct (part time, paid by the course)
Adjunct is a fill-in position when a regular is on sabbatical or when special expertise is needed for a course and nobody in the department can or will teach. We hire lawyers to teach our Business Law course each year. They are paid $3,500 per course.
When it comes time to hire a new, entry level faculty member, the adjuncts often apply and do have a leg up on those we don’t know (assuming they were good as adjuncts). New hires generally enter the list at the Assistant Professor level and are required to apply for tenured status after six years.
From the student view, adjuncts are substitute teachers, learning how to teach. From the full timer’s view it’s, “What’s his name again?”
Administration has recently created a few new designations similar to Lecturer that are not in the tenure track and are on short term contracts, some renewable and some not. Those positions generally pay half to two thirds of the going tenure track positions and are renewed at the pleasure of administrators.
There are a few other designations including Clinical and Research faculty that May or may not follow the tenure track.