Taggart is one of many professors who had a sour reaction to CareerCast.com’s ranking of the 10 least stressful jobs of 2013. College professors took first place, beating out seamstresses, jewelers and dieticians.

The website gave professors the ranking because of the field’s high growth opportunities, low health risks and high average salary.

CareerCast.com computed stress levels by scoring 11 different job demands that tend to induce stress, including amount of travel, deadlines and competitiveness.

A university professor scored a job-rated stress score of 6.45, whereas enlisted military personnel, the job ranked as most stressful, scored an 84.72.

The website also found university professors have a median salary of $62,050. The average salary for an assistant to full professor in 2012 ranged from $69,500 to $128,600 respectively, according to the American Association of University Professors.

“We’ve been doing this (study) for over 20 years,” said Tony Lee, chief alliance officer at Adicio and publisher of CareerCast.com. “It’s an analytical study based on data. No matter what job we rank as least stressful, the person in that job couldn’t disagree more.”

Lee said he believed professors’ stress levels are lower partly because they usually don’t teach during the summer.

But Laura Dillon, a professor in the Department of Computer Science, said a professor’s stress depends on the department and the individual responsibilities that go along with teaching at certain colleges.

“Within our department, (being a professor) seems pretty stressful to me,” Dillon said. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

Taggart shared Dillon’s opinion that professors often juggle many responsibilities on a daily basis.

Taggart said in addition to being a professor of music education, she directs the early childhood music program of the MSU Community Music School, which she said has about 25 classes in East Lansing and Detroit each week.

Andrew Corner, an advertising professor, said he sees stress as exciting rather than overwhelming. He said the most stressful but exciting part of his job is watching his students progress.

“I teach a style of writing that many students aren’t used to and find frustrating, and I provide feedback for what they’re doing,” Corner said. “It can be frustrating for both of us, but watching them create these skills is exciting, so the effort is worth it.”

Food industry management senior Leticia Briseno echoed Corner’s thoughts that being a professor is not stressful.

“I think the only time it would be stressful is if the professor had a class with more than 300 students,” Briseno said. “I feel like they get paid enough to live comfortably.”