University Times

Pitt faculty salary data are not included in a newly expanded Association of American University Professors (AAUP) annual salary report.

Pitt was unable to meet the AAUP deadline for submitting data because a state budget had yet to be passed, AAUP researcher John Barnshaw told the University Times. Salary data from the 16 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education schools also is missing from the most recent AAUP Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession.

“Unfortunately, Pennsylvania institutions were not alone this year in having challenges completing our survey as institutions in Illinois struggled to do the survey as their governor and legislature were also unable to pass a budget,” Barnshaw said.

Robert Goga, director of Institutional Research, said his office is on track to complete Pitt’s survey response in time to be included in the AAUP’s July/August salary survey addendum.

For the first time, the AAUP is including part-time faculty and graduate teaching assistants in its annual salary report. The two categories combined now represent the majority of the academic labor force: Part-time faculty make up 41 percent and graduate student employees add another 13 percent.

The 2015-16 AAUP report, released April 11, notes that over the past 40 years, the ranks of tenured faculty nationwide have declined by 26 percent and tenure-track faculty numbers have dropped 50 percent. At the same time, the number of part-time faculty has increased by 70 percent.

Faculty salaries are up and inflation remains low. According to the 2015-16 report, continuing faculty salaries nationwide rose 2.9 percent for professors; 3.7 percent for associate professors; 3.8 percent for assistant professors; 4.3 percent for instructors; and 3.4 percent for all ranks combined. For the same time period, the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.7 percent.

The AAUP report is posted at www.aaup.org/report/FCS-2015-16.

—Kimberly K. Barlow