Skip to Navigation
University of Pittsburgh
Print This Page Print this pages

April 17, 2008

AAUP survey finds Pitt faculty pay on par with peers

Pay for Pitt faculty in most ranks met or exceeded the average for faculty at doctoral institutions nationwide, according to an annual survey by the American Association of University Professors.

However, for the third time in four years, faculty across the nation found their purchasing power lagging behind inflation, according to the AAUP annual report on the economic status of the profession, 2007-08. Although the average pay raise for faculty across all ranks was unchanged from last year at 3.8 percent, higher inflation this year — 4.1 percent compared with 2.5 percent last year — meant a return to a loss in actual purchasing power.

The report showed female faculty members’ pay continuing to lag behind males’. At doctoral institutions, women professors earned an average of $109,853 while male professors earned an average of $120,661. At the associate level, women lagged behind men $76,155 to $82,356; at the assistant level $65,002 to $70,650; female instructors trailed $45,448 to $47,597, and female lecturers lagged $48,547 to $54,781. Those with no academic rank trailed men $56,101 to $63,967.

Combining all ranks, women earned an average $73,383 while men earned $93,869.

The report, “Where Are the Priorities? The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2007-08,” released April 14, also examined the widening gap in pay increases for faculty compared with university presidents, administrators and football coaches.

The survey found that the average Division I-A football coach earned 10 times the pay of the average full professor. Coaches’ pay rose 12.4 percent while full professors averaged 3.5 percent increases.

For presidents and administrators at public universities, pay increases didn’t rise as sharply as those at most private and church-related schools, but their average raise beat inflation and in most categories outpaced professors’ pay raises, the survey found.

Offering background on the selection of this year’s “priorities” theme, the authors stated, “When market forces are widely offered as a reason why presidents, administrative vice presidents, and football coaches must be paid enormous salaries — while at the same time market forces are blamed for the continuing suppression of contingent faculty wages, the growing use of graduate students in undergraduate teaching, and the increasing length of postdoctoral fellowships —we would be remiss if we did not ask hard questions about priorities.”

Although Pitt administrators use a group of 34 public Association of American Universities institutions for benchmarking faculty salary comparisons for the Pittsburgh campus, the larger AAUP survey uses salary figures from 1,386 public, private/independent and church-related institutions divided into doctoral, master’s, baccalaureate and two-year colleges with and without ranks to make its comparisons.

The full report, which appears in the March-April issue of Academe also is available online at www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/rep/Z/ecstatreport2007-08/.

***

Pay comparisons at the Pittsburgh campus

The AAUP survey showed that Pitt professors in Oakland fared better than their counterparts nationwide, averaging $121,900 in salary (with men averaging $124,900 and women $112,100). The national average for the 212 Category I (doctoral) schools included in the report was $118,444 (with an average of $120,661 for men and $109,853 for women). Among the subset of 142 Category I public universities, the average pay for professors was $109,569 (men $111,676; women $101,346).

Pay for associate professors in Oakland was close to the average for colleagues nationwide and at public Category I schools. The survey showed Pitt’s average was $80,400 (men $81,700; women $77,900) compared to $80,043 nationally (men $82,356; women $76,155). Associate professors at public Category I schools had an average pay of $77,033 (men $79,130; women $73,534).

Assistant professors in Oakland averaged annual pay of $67,700 (men $71,700; women $64,000) compared with $68,112 nationwide (men $70,650; women $65,002) and $65,416 (men $67,767; women $62,556) for public Category I schools.

Instructors in Oakland averaged somewhat lower pay than their colleagues in other Category I schools. The survey showed the average Pitt instructor was paid $41,500 (men $44,500; women $40,200), compared with $46,321 nationwide (men $47,597; women $45,448) and $44,116 (men $45,012; women $43,536) for public Category I schools.

Pay comparisons at three Pitt regional campuses

At Pitt’s three Category IIB (baccalaureate) regional campuses, most professors earned less than the national average of $83,560 for the rank (men $84,829; women $80,822) and the IIB public schools’ average of $80,408 (men $81,907; women $77,451). The report included 456 IIB institutions; 83 of them public. UPG’s female professors bucked the trend, earning slightly more than average.

Professors at Pitt-Bradford averaged $66,900 (men $68,700; women $62,700); Pitt-Greensburg averaged $76,700 (men $69,800; women $83,600) and Pitt-Johnstown averaged $71,500 (men $72,900; women $64,200).

The regionals’ associate professors also lagged behind the national average of $64,277 (men $64,896; women $63,465) and $65,431 (men $66,290 women $64,251) average of the public IIB schools.

Associate professors at UPB averaged $58,600 (men $59,600; women $54,500), at UPG $60,600 (men $62,300; women $58,700) and at UPJ $60,400 (men $60,100; women $61,100).

The same was true for the regionals’ assistant professors. The nationwide average was $53,351 (men $54,031; women $52,710) with public IIB schools averaging $54,844 (men $55,632; women $54,018). In comparison, average pay for the rank at UPB was $47,600 (men $47,900; women $47,400), at UPG $49,100 (men $48,700; women $49,500) and at UPJ $48,500 (men $49,300; women $47,700).

Male instructors at two of Pitt’s three IIB regionals had average pay higher than their colleagues nationally. Instructors nationwide averaged $43,609 (men $44,063; women $43,300) and instructors at public IIB schools averaged $44,349 (men $44,885; women $43,948).

Instructors at UPG averaged $42,000 (men $45,300; women $39,200). Instructors at UPJ averaged $42,600 (men $45,100; women $40,800) and UPB’s instructors averaged $38,000 (fewer than three men; women $34,600).

Pay comparisons at the Titusville campus

At Pitt-Titusville, which is among the report’s 153 Category III schools (two-year colleges with ranks), professors averaged $57,800 (male and female averages were not provided because there were fewer than three professors in each gender category), compared with national averages of $71,779 (men $73,024; women $70,386) and $71,910 (men $73,187; women $70,494) for the report’s 145 public III schools.

UPT’s associate professors averaged less than their colleagues nationwide with average pay of $52,100 (fewer than three men; women $51,100). Nationwide, such faculty averaged $58,492 (men $59,282; women $57,692) and $58,708 (men $59,474; women $57,933) for public Category III schools.

UPT’s female assistant professors surpassed the national average for both men and women at their rank even though UPT’s assistant professors’ overall average was below their colleagues’. UPT assistant professors averaged $47,500 (men $44,800; women $52,000). The rank’s pay nationwide averaged $51,183 (men $51,742; women $50,697) and $51,329 (men $51,911; women $50,822) for public Category III schools.

Instructors at UPT, all female, earned an average of $43,900. In comparison, the national average for instructors at Category III schools was $44,132 (men $44,364; women $43,938) and $44,174 (men $44,415; women $43,972) at public Category IIIs.

—Kimberly K. Barlow


Leave a Reply