"In most [UK] universities, professorships are reserved for only the most senior academic staff, and other academics are generally known as 'lecturers', 'senior lecturers' and 'readers'."
I'm not exactly sure what a community college is, but in view of the discussion about "Fachhochschulen" above, I want to note that Fachhochschulen do indeed have professors.
In the United States, community colleges are primarily two-year public institutions of tertiary education. Community colleges offer undergraduate education in the form of an associate degree. [In addition community colleges also offer remedial education, GEDs, high school diplomas, technical diplomas and academic certificates, and in rare cases, a limited number of 4-year bachelor's degrees.]
An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree.
Do you maybe confuse community colleges with „Volkshochschulen“?
The latter offer recreational courses, like painting or language learning or Indian cooking, usually one hour per week for a quarter year or so. The courses are held by laypeople.
