Entry level for new NEs

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

I'm a bit confused about how schools determine the level at which a person enters as a new NE. I know the levels are instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor.

I hope to enter at the assistant professor level at a minimum. I have been focusing on publication to do that. I am working with one of my MSN-ed instructors to get a paper I wrote for class published. I have developed and presented a CEU-verified class on test-taking strategies for certification. I plan to submit a poster proposal to a Writing Center association on Writing Center programs for nursing and allied health schools because I am currently a writing tutor at a nursing school as a second job. (If any of the nursing instructors at the school I tutor see this post, I will have given myself away completely! *waves*) An instructor I work with has encouraged me to publish on a program I developed for nursing students in writing-intensive courses, which I am seriously considering.

Am I focusing in the right place re: entering at a level higher than the instructor level? What other things should I be doing that will help me qualify for a higher level of entry?

Thanks in advance.