This study focuses on aspects of the Changing Academic Profession survey of 2007-08 that describe the place of faculty in their institutions. The authors examine the following aspects of institutional life: (1) the faculty role in institutional governance; (2) who evaluates their teaching and research; (3) the locus of their loyalties as between their academic departments and their institutions; and (4) career and job satisfaction. Before proceeding to the several dimensions of governance, the authors first provide an overview of how the composition of the American professorate resembles or differs from that in other nations in terms of institutional affiliation, disciplinary distribution, gender composition, family status (spouse's employment), age, and academic rank. This provides the context within which to interpret the differences and similarities between the US professoriate and those across the globe. (Contains 7 figures.)