Professors’ pay hikes outpace U.S. average

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Pay is up for college faculty across the Rochester area, with full professors here outpacing their peers nationally.

The latest survey by the American Association of University Professors shows an average salary increase of 3.1 percent in the 2015-16 academic year for full professors at 11 Rochester-area colleges and universities. Hobart and William Smith Colleges had the biggest pay hike—6.3 percent, while Monroe Community College was at the low end with a 0.1 percent increase.

Nationwide, inflation-adjusted full-time continuing professor salaries rose 2.2 percent.

AAUP conducts an annual survey of two- and four-year colleges and universities in the United States, collecting data on more than 375,000 faculty members from over 1,100 institutions.

As in previous surveys, the University of Rochester had the highest average salary for full professors locally at $152,648. Rochester Institute of Technology was next at $118,665, followed by Hobart and William Smith with $116,653.

UR also ranked first in average total compensation—salary and benefits—for full professors, at $191,300. After it were RIT at $154,300 and Hobart and William Smith at $149,400.

For full professors at two-year colleges, MCC led with average pay of $85,728 and total compensation of $124,400, followed by Finger Lakes Community College with $71,485 in salary and $98,400 in total compensation. Genesee Community College did not participate in this year’s survey.

Overall, full-time continuing faculty salaries increased by 2.7 percent, AAUP reported. In addition to full professors, it collected data on associate professors, assistant professors and instructors.

John Barnshaw, a researcher involved with the AAUP survey, said the lower average pay increase for full professors could be misleading. In some cases, regional factors come into play, he noted.

The pay increase average also is affected by the number of full-time professors retiring and being replaced with less-experienced and therefore lower-paid counterparts.

“Another trend we saw across the country is a need for many universities to bring in younger talent,” Barnshaw said. “There is a higher premium on increases for assistant professors and some senior faculty are willing to forgo increases to bring in top junior talent. A lot of professors recognize the optics of that and the importance to the university.”

Most local colleges and universities outpaced the national averages. At RIT, full professors’ pay increased 3.6 percent, the AAUP survey indicates.

“Several factors come into play in determining pay, including discipline, number of years in service and performance rating,” said Judy Bender, assistant vice president and director of human resources.

At UR, full professor salaries increased 3.9 percent, the AAUP data show.

“Our salaries went up significantly,” said Peter Lennie, senior vice president and dean of the faculty of arts, sciences and engineering at UR. “It’s part of what we need to do to remain competitive. We’re hiring nationally and internationally, and we’re competing for the greatest talent.”

Pay increases for full professors averaged 3.3 percent at St. John Fisher College, where their average salary is $103,200, AAUP reports.

“The difference in average pay varies by academic rank and discipline,” said Elizabeth Skrainer, assistant vice president for human resources. “Ten professors in the English department can have different salaries. Some women are paid more than men and vice versa.”

Skrainer thinks the AAUP survey is flawed in the way it shows female faculty often are paid less than their male counterparts.

The average male full professor salary at St. John Fisher is $106,506 versus $92,764 for female full professors there.

“Unless you disaggregate the data, you could come up with some bad conclusions. You have to drill down to get to the real facts. Here at Fisher, it’s not about gender but about preparation,” said Skrainer, referring to differences in professors’ experience and academic qualifications.

Sara Varhus, vice president for academic affairs at Nazareth College, says many female faculty members earn more than male faculty at Nazareth.

“We increased the faculty in our health fields—the allied health professions—where salaries tend to be higher and they tend to be largely women,” Varhus said. “Nazareth has a tradition of strong women, both in faculty and students.”

The average salary for a male full professor at Nazareth is $88,712 compared to $85,519 for a female full professor.

Nazareth hired a consultant a year ago to benchmark faculty compensation, measuring salaries according to disciplines, rank and length of service. The findings were compared to a set of small, private peer institutions nationwide with similar liberal arts programs, Varhus said.

“We rolled out adjustments in October 2015 based on the benchmarking we did,” she said. “The study showed more than 90 percent of our salaries were competitive with the marketplace.”

The AAUP data showing a gender pay gap also is questioned by Bender at RIT, where women account for 35 percent of the faculty, she said.

“A professor in history is not going to have the same market value as a professor in economics. Pay is market-driven, not gender-driven,” Bender said, noting that men and women in the same discipline are paid the same rate.

RIT is working to increase the number of female faculty members in traditionally male- dominated fields such as engineering. Bender noted the university in March appointed its first female dean of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, which is the nation’s only engineering college to be named after a woman.

A national trend the AAUP survey highlighted is the increasing reliance of a growing number of colleges and universities on part-time faculty and staff. Over the past four decades, the portion of the academic labor force holding full-time tenured positions has declined by 26 percent and the share holding full-time, tenure-track positions has dropped by 50 percent, AAUP researchers reported.

“The increasing reliance on faculty members in part-time positions has destabilized the faculty by creating an exploitative, two-tiered system that has also eroded student retention and graduation rates at many institutions,” the report states.

That is not the case at local institutions, according to school officials who say that part-time staffers are not being used to replace full-time faculty but instead to augment them.

“Our School of Management has a specialized master’s degree program where they bring in professional business leaders to teach a course,” Varhus said. “That’s specialized training we are proud to offer our students.”

At St. John Fisher, college leaders tracked the use of part-time staff and determined a third to be in clinical affiliations. All students in the nursing program are required to be supervised as part of their coursework, and the college uses part-time clinicians for that.

“We also bring in outside expertise in specific areas such as corporate taxation for our business program,” Skrainer said. “We believe that’s beneficial to the diversity of the students’ education.”

John Barnshaw, a researcher involved with the AAUP survey, agrees that Rochester-area institutions are not overusing part-time staff.

“There is a high degree of respect for the economic value of faculty there,” Barnshaw said, noting the significant benefits of tenured faculty members.

“When faculty are full time and on the tenure track, they have time to focus on innovation in the classroom,” he said. “Every aspect of the iPhone was developed in a research university—just because there was an interest and time to work on it.

“That’s a great example of how research universities like RIT and the University of Rochester are valuable, and their full-time staff have the time to devote to innovation and new discoveries,” he added.

As he works on the compensation survey each year, Barnshaw notes how the importance of salary differs from region to region.

“It appears not to be as big a draw for institutions in the Midwest as it is for the Mid-Atlantic states,” he said. “On the West Coast, quality of life is often a larger factor.”

In the Rochester area, the importance of pay can differ from institution to institution.

“Pay is certainly important, but in most cases it is not the only factor our candidates consider in coming to Nazareth,” Varhus said. “They appreciate the kinds of support we offer for professional development, internal grants and the culture of the institution.”

At UR, where high-profile recruits such as former Minneapolis Fed chairman Narayana Kocherlakota and neuroscientist John Foxe joined the faculty this year, it takes more than money to attract top talent.

“Pay is not their top concern,” Lennie said. “It’s the quality of colleagues and the general environment for being productive. We don’t have to pay the highest. We have to have the right research and collegiate infrastructure.”

Among UR’s institutional competition, Lennie noted, the university pays slightly below the middle.

“We’re a strong, nationally prominent university,” he said. “We’re known for it and we’re able to attract people from all over the world.”

7/15/2016 (c) 2016 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email [email protected].