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January 5, 2017

Full-time faculty averaged 3.1% pay hike in FY16

Full-time continuing Pitt faculty averaged a 3.1 percent salary increase in fiscal year 2016, with a median increase of 2 percent.

Robert Goga, director of Institutional Research, presented the annual Analysis of Salary Increases for Full-Time Continuing Faculty Report at the University Senate budget policies committee’s (BPC) Dec. 9 meeting. To view the full report, go to www.utimes.pitt.edu/documents/ContinuingFaculty2016.pdf.

The fiscal year 2016 report covered 2,000 full-time continuing faculty, representing 81 percent of 2,468 full-time Pitt faculty in fall 2015.

Excluded from the analysis were: faculty in clinical departments in the School of Medicine; faculty employed here in fall term 2014 but not in fall term 2015 and the reverse; faculty whose contract base changed (for instance, from nine to 12 months or vice versa); faculty on leave of absence without pay in the current or previous year; faculty changing from part-time to full-time or the reverse; visiting faculty; faculty whose responsibility center changed; faculty with a reduction in salary, and academic administrators at the level of dean or higher.

Of the 2,000 continuing faculty included in the analysis, 28 received raises of less than 1 percent, the salary pool increase awarded to employees who demonstrated satisfactory performance. Of those 28 faculty members, 26 received raises that failed to keep pace with the 0.8 percent rate of inflation.

Of the 2,000 continuing faculty, 274 received raises of 1 percent-1.49 percent; 322 received raises of 1.5 percent-1.99 percent; 949 received raises of 2 percent-2.99 percent; 215 received raises of 3 percent-4.99 percent; 83 received raises of 5 percent -7.49 percent; 34 received raises of 7.5 percent-9.99 percent; and 95 received raises of 10 percent or more.

The 177 faculty in the highest salary range, $180,001+, also had the highest average increase, 4.9 percent, observed BPC member Mackey Friedman. Eighteen faculty in that group received raises of 10 percent or more.

Executive Vice Provost David DeJong, chancellor’s liaison to BPC, noted that salary increases of that magnitude typically are due to a promotion in rank, a significant retention effort or a remarkable professional milestone.

He noted that median increases across all salary ranges showed a U-curve with most ranges showing a 2 percent median increase, with higher median percentage increases not only at the top, but in the three lowest salary ranges as well.

In other business:
A comparison of average salaries for regional campus faculty of all ranks placed Pitt-Bradford at No. 69, Pitt-Johnstown No. 73, and Pitt-Greensburg No. 75 in academic year 2014-15 among a new streamlined group of 110 nearby peers, reported University Senate President Frank Wilson.

Wilson said he based his review on the most recent Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data, adding that he anticipates the 2015-16 data would be available by year-end.

More variation is seen when comparing regional faculty salaries by rank, he said, adding that Pitt’s “all ranks” averages are relatively low because Pitt’s regionals have fewer faculty in the upper ranks, combined with below-average salaries for faculty in the lower ranks.

Among 109 schools with faculty in the professor rank, Pitt-Greensburg placed No. 52; Pitt-Bradford was No. 62 and Pitt-Johnstown was No. 71.

Average salaries for Pitt’s associate professors were at the midpoint of the group, Wilson said. In that classification, among 110 schools Pitt-Greensburg was No. 51, Pitt-Johnstown was No. 52 and Pitt-Bradford was No. 54.

Among 110 schools with assistant professors, Pitt-Greensburg was No. 58, Pitt-Bradford was No. 62 and Pitt-Johnstown was No. 69.

Among 90 schools with instructor ranks, Pitt-Johnstown was No. 35, Pitt-Bradford was No. 53 and Pitt-Greensburg was No. 61, he said.

Approved by BPC in October (see Nov. 10 University Times), the peer group of 110 includes schools in Pennsylvania and the neighboring states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York (minus the metro New York City area), Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia in the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions in Higher Education categories “baccalaureate colleges: arts & sciences focus,” including Pitt-Greensburg and Pitt-Johnstown, and “baccalaureate colleges: diverse fields,” including Pitt-Bradford.

Wilson noted that no New Jersey schools remained in the peer group after those in the metro New York City area were cut.

Pitt-Titusville, which is not classified as a baccalaureate institution, was not included in the comparison.

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BPC’s spring term meetings were set for 2 p.m. on the third Friday of the month: Jan. 20, Feb. 17, March 17, April 21 and May 19.

Pending availability of the room, the committee will continue to meet in 156 Cathedral of Learning, BPC chair Beverly Gaddy said.

—Kimberly K. Barlow 

Filed under: Feature,Volume 49 Issue 9

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