University Times

A new report by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) shows that average salaries for professors at Pitt’s Oakland campus for 2006-07 were higher than the average at similar schools nationwide.

Although Pitt administrators use a group of 34 public Association of American Universities (AAU) institutions for benchmarking salary comparisons for the Pittsburgh campus, the larger AAUP survey uses figures from 1,428 institutions divided into doctoral, master’s, baccalaureate and two-year colleges with and without ranks to make its comparisons.

A comparison between salaries at Pitt and the administration’s AAU benchmarking group is expected to be presented at the University Senate’s budget policies committee’s May 4 meeting. The issue of determining an appropriate peer group for benchmarking salaries at Pitt’s regional campuses continues to be a matter of debate and remains under study.

In response to a University Times request to the provost’s office, Vice Provost Robert F. Pack declined comment on the report, adding that administrators typically initially discuss the issue with the budget policies committee. “That’s really the most appropriate place for us to talk about how we read this and what it means and what we think about it,” he said.

BPC chairman Stephen Carr said it is difficult to read from a single report and draw meaningful conclusions, adding that such reports all are “blunt instruments” and that multiple years must be examined in order to determine trends.

Noting that the AAUP survey shows gross aggregate figures, Carr said it’s difficult to make a meaningful comparison with Pitt.

Pitt sociology professor and United Faculty/AAUP President Lisa D. Brush, in a letter published in the April 5 University Times, sought action from the Senate ad hoc committee on gender equity in conjunction with BPC to request that the administration’s 2006 salary report include analyses of the male-female wage gap for faculty as well as staff.

Carr said BPC, which met in a closed session April 13, has not acted on that request to seek gender-identified faculty pay information in its annual request for information from the administration, although Carr said the issue was discussed.

Carr said the committee had reached no consensus on what additional information to request for the report, which is expected to be given at BPC’s May 4 meeting.

Carr pointed out that numbers start to get too small if salary information is broken down by gender within academic ranks within schools. “It becomes an issue of confidentiality,” he said.

The AAUP study does not give figures if there are fewer than three faculty members in a particular category.

Carr also said he believes the University has made significant strides in addressing a number of salary equity issues. “The University is taking this very seriously,” he said.

“I don’t think this is going to be resolved quickly, but we will work on it,” he said. He said there are many gender equity issues being addressed at Pitt, adding that he dislikes having to say “trust me,” but that much of the information comes to the committee with the stipulation that it is confidential.

“We will continue to pursue it,” he said, adding that the committee looks at a number of different equity issues, not only gender-related ones.

Pay comparisons at the Pittsburgh campus

• The AAUP survey showed that Pitt professors in Oakland averaged $119,500 in pay (with men averaging $122,800 and women $108,200). The national average for Category I (doctoral) schools was $113,389 (with an average of $115,475 for men and $105,100 for women). Among Category I publics, the average pay for professors was $106,495 (men $108,481; women $98,552).

• Associate professors in Oakland averaged more than their colleagues nationwide or at public Category I schools. The survey showed Pitt’s average was $78,200 (men $79,900; women $74,500) compared to $76,639 nationally (men $78,729; women $73,074). Associate professors at public Category I schools had an average pay of $74,075 (men $76,030; women $70,764.)

• Assistant professors in Oakland averaged annual pay of $66,400 (men $70,600; women $62,100) compared with $65,424 nationwide (men $67,912; women $62,285) and $63,131 (men $65,498; women $60,155) for public Category I schools.

• Instructors in Oakland also averaged higher pay than their colleagues in other Category I schools. The survey showed an average Pitt instructor pay of $45,000 (men $48,800; women $43,800), compared with $43,974 (men $44,977; women $43,286) nationwide and $42,541 (men $43,352; women $42,012) for public Category I schools.

Pay comparisons at 3 Pitt regional campuses

At Pitt’s three Category IIB (baccalaureate) regional campuses, professors didn’t fare as well as others across the country. The survey found nationwide pay averaged $79,920 for professors (men $81,163; women $77,111) and $76,745 (men $78,390; women $73,372) at IIB public schools. In comparison, professors at Pitt-Bradford averaged $66,200 (men $66,700; women’s average pay was not included because the campus has fewer than three women professors). Pitt-Greensburg averaged $76,600 (fewer than three men; women $81,000). Pitt-Johnstown averaged $67,100 (men $68,400; women $61,300).

• The regionals’ associate professors also lagged behind the national average of $61,890 (men $62,421; women $61,176) and $62,716 (men $63,658; women $61,363) for public IIB schools.

Associate professors at UPB averaged $57,700 (men $58,600; women $53,600), at UPG $59,500 (men $61,000; women $57,800) and at UPJ $59,000 (men $59,300; women $58,000).

The same was true for the regionals’ assistant professors. The nationwide average was $51,248 (men $51,951; women $50,562) with public IIB schools averaging $ 51,854 (men $52,960; women $50,714). In comparison, average pay for the rank at UPB was $47,600 (men $47,500; women $47,700), at UPG $48,000 (men $48,100; women $47,800) and at UPJ $46,600 (men $47,700; women $45,400).

• As a group, instructors at two of Pitt’s three IIB regionals had average pay higher than their colleagues nationally. Instructors nationwide averaged $41,231 (men $42,081; women $40,650) and instructors at public IIB schools averaged $41,041 (men $40,844; women $41,183). Instructors at UPG averaged $41,200 (men $43,600; women $38,700) and at UPJ averaged $42,000 (men $45,400; women $39,700). Only UPB’s instructors, who averaged $34,700 (fewer than three men; women $33,100), lagged behind.

Pay comparisons at UPT Pitt-Titusville, which is classified Category III (two-year colleges with ranks) had fewer than three professors, and so its average for that academic rank was not compared with the national averages.

UPT’s associate professors averaged less than their colleagues nationwide with average pay of $51,000 (men $50,900; women $51,100). Nationwide, such faculty averaged $55,233 (men $56,170; women $54,262) and $55,429 (men $56,331; women $54,493) for public Category III schools.

• Female assistant professors at UPT outpaced their male colleagues on campus as well as all assistant professors combined nationwide.

As a group, UPT’s assistant professors averaged $46,500 (men $43,200; women $49,200) while the rank’s pay nationwide averaged $48,730 (men $49,329; women $48,202) and $48,923 (men $49,505; women $48,409) for public Category III schools.

Women instructors at UPT also were above average on the pay scale. Women earned an average of $43,300; no male UPT instructors factored into the survey. In comparison, the national average for instructors at Category III schools was $41,845 (men $42,118; women $41,616) and $41,915 (men $42,184; women $41,689) at public Category IIIs.

Inflation

The survey found there’s good news in the professors-versus-inflation battle.

The annual report revealed that full-time professors’ average pay in 2006-07 rose 3.8 percent, outpacing the inflation rate of 2.5 percent — the first real increase in salaries (adjusted for inflation) since 2003-04. While the average pay of faculty at all levels rose by more than 1 percent at all ranks, full professors’ salaries rose the most.

Although that’s an encouraging sign, the study’s authors caution that one good year doesn’t necessarily a trend make. The gap between rich and poor is as apparent in academia as in American society in general, the report states, citing growing disparities in the endowments of have and have-not institutions, the pay differential between university presidents and faculty members, the pay gap between coaches and professors and the gap between high- and low-paid professors themselves.

The study also found that continuing faculty — those who remained in full-time positions at the institutions where they taught the previous year — have continued a two-decades’ long trend of beating inflation.

In that category, associate and assistant professors saw the highest increases — typical, the study authors stated, because the statistics include raises that come from promotions.

Comparing the 2005-06 academic year to 2006-07, continuing faculty at Category 1 doctoral institutions nationwide earned an average increase of 4.7 percent for professors, 5.4 percent for associate professors, 5.5 percent for assistant professors and 6.3 percent for instructors, nearly identical to the increases reported for continuing faculty at public Category 1 institutions.

Continuing professors at the public subset of Category I schools earned 4.8 percent increases, while associate professors averaged 5.4 percent, assistant professors averaged 5.5 percent and instructors earned 6.4 percent increases.

Pittsburgh campus faculty pay increases

Pitt’s average increase for continuing faculty in Oakland did not surpass any of the national averages.

At Pitt, continuing professors and associate professors in Oakland saw an average pay increase of 4.5 percent, while assistant professors got 4.1 percent and instructors got an average of 5.2 percent.

Regional campus faculty pay increases

At the three Pitt regional campuses that grant bachelor’s degrees, continuing faculty at Pitt-Bradford saw increases ranging from 2.9 percent for instructors to 4.1 percent for assistant professors. Professors got an average 3.7 percent increase while associate professors got 3.8 percent.

At Pitt-Greensburg, continuing assistant professors and instructors got 3.4 percent average increases, professors got 5.2 percent and associate professors got 5.3 percent.

At Pitt-Johnstown, continuing professors averaged 3.4 percent increases, associate professors got 4.1 percent, assistant professors got 4.4 percent and instructors averaged 3.8 percent.

Continuing faculty at similar schools nationwide earned increases of 4.7 percent for professors, 5.5 percent for associate and assistant professors and 5.2 percent for instructors.

At similarly categorized public schools, continuing professors averaged 4.3 percent increases while associate professors got 5.6 percent, and assistant professors and instructors earned 5.4 percent average increases.

Pitt-Titusville gave continuing faculty raises ranging from an average of 6.4 percent for instructors, to 3.3 percent for professors. Associate professors got 5.1 percent and assistant professors got 4.1 percent. In comparison, continuing professors at other Category III schools averaged 5 percent increases, associate professors averaged 5.1 percent, assistant professors got 5.9 percent and instructors got 6 percent.

Public Category III schools gave 5.2 percent average increases for continuing faculty in the four ranks, the survey found.

The report appears in the April 12 issue of Academe and can be found online at www.aaup.org.

—Kimberly K. Barlow