Recent theories of professional work satisfaction are reviewed and applied to the college or university professor. Additionally, the professional satisfactions available to the academic person are compared with those of professionals in other occupations. The following theories of job satisfaction are examined: job facets theory, expectancy theory, equity theory, need and need deficiency theory, and two-factor theory. Proponents of job facets theory generally reject the notion that there exists some overall feeling of job satisfaction but posit that workers tend to be satisfied or dissatisfied with particular aspects of their jobs. The use of facet theory in studies of college faculty employs questionnaires with long lists of job characteristics. Expectancy theory is probably particularly useful in separating the contingencies that affect effort-performance and performance reward. While equity theory can be of considerable value in understanding some of the sources of faculty dissatisfaction with teaching, it does not reveal, for example, the qualitative natures of satisfactions received at varying levels of input. Whereas expectancy theory predicts that workers will be able cognitively to appraise their situations and adjustments, need theory assumes that most workers will be driven by basic human forces that may not be fully understood through introspective analysis. Therefore, under this perspective, primary responsibility for the improvement of satisfaction would lie in formal authorities external to the individual. When the literature on need, two-factor, or need deficiency theory in the field of higher education is examined, surprisingly little is found. A bibliography is appended. (SW)