faculty member vs academic

faculty member and academic both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
faculty member	Yes	No	No	No
academic	Yes	Yes	No	No

As nouns, faculty member and academic are synonyms defined as:

faculty member and academic: an educator who works at a college or university

Other synonyms of faculty member include academician.

faculty member (noun)	academic (noun)
an educator who works at a college or university	an educator who works at a college or university

faculty member (adjective)	academic (adjective)
	associated with academia or an academy
	marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning especially its trivial aspects
	hypothetical or theoretical and not expected to produce an immediate or practical result