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Faculty at UW earn less than peers
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by Natalie Rhoads
Monday, January 17, 2005
University of Wisconsin faculty members earn, on average, lower salaries compared to other peer universities, which could be a disadvantage in recruiting qualified staff, according to Vice Chancellor of Administration Darrell Bazzell.
“Faculty salaries are a growing concern with campus administration,” he said. “We are not competitive with other universities, and this needs to be addressed.”
UW faculty salaries rank 11th out of 12 national research institutions, as reported by Wisconsin State Journal.
UW professors who work full time received an average annual income of $96,234 for the 2003-04 academic year, according to the Wisconsin State Journal, whereas University of California-Berkeley professors earned an average salary of $122,983.
Despite this, Paul Bredeson, Education Administration chair, said the benefits of working at UW, such as UW’s excellent national reputation, help the university recruit new potential faculty members and encourage current staff members to continue their careers with UW.
However, lower salaries could be a problem for attracting qualified employees in the future. Bredeson said UW salaries do not necessarily have to be the highest of all universities, but should be high enough for UW to remain competitive.
“We have to be up there to … keep the best faculty and recruit the best faculty,” Bredeson said. “Eventually, people have to pay the bills, and benefits will not take the place of a mediocre salary.”
According to some, UW professors’ lower salaries could be a potential problem because the quality of professors may lower if more qualified faculty choose to take offers from higher-paying universities.
“It is hard to immediately see the impact of lower salaries because lower salaries slowly erode the quality of professors,” Bredeson said.
Bredeson pointed to the psychology department, which has lost six of its previous 36 faculty members during the past two years. He said this is partly due to better offers from other top universities.
“We know of incidences where we have not been able to attract faculty because certain benefits are not being offered,” Bazzell said.
A possible solution may be to increase tuition, but this could lead to low-income students being unable to afford education at UW and could eventually decrease student diversity at UW.
“There are only so many places the university can generate money,” Bredeson said.
However, Bredeson said UW does a good job offering financial support to students who, under normal circumstances, would not be able to afford tuition expenses.
Bredeson said students should be aware of UW faculty members’ lower salaries because they could lower the number of qualified professors choosing to teach at UW.
“It is a problem, and students should be concerned about it,” Bredeson said.
Anonymous (January 17, 2005 @ 10:50am):
If you indexed salaries to cost of living in the areas in which the 12 universities are located, is UW still ranked eleventh? I'm sure it's still in the bottom five, but it might not be next to last.
Anonymous (January 17, 2005 @ 12:05pm):
Hmmm, the profs aren't whining and moaning that they aren't getting enough, instead they leave for better paying jobs elsewhere. What a revolutionary free-market concept. Maybe they could teach this to those trying to live off minimum wage: stop bitching for a handout and increase the value of your labor yourself.
