At all educational levels, it is necessary to have a teacher training to teach, except at the university. The crisis of professionalism in the university teaching function is worsening, it constitutes an unresolved challenge. The objective of the study is to understand the predominant identity representations that define the performance of the university teacher in a situation of digital society and new normality. Fifteen university professors participated, participants of the program identities in times of pandemic, of the Peruvian Network of Universities. The results show that the abrupt change in university training and academic-organizational processes, caused by COVID-19, by demanding new functions and competencies in the action of university teaching, generate a permanent tension that overwhelms, complicates and undermines the dichotomous professional identity between what is, and what should be, putting at risk the professional legitimacy of the teacher and the social value of the university.