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April 30, 2009

AAUP: Most Pitt faculty pay exceeded peers' in '08-09

Pay for faculty on the Pittsburgh campus in most ranks exceeded the average for comparably ranked faculty at peer doctoral institutions nationwide, according to an annual survey by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

The April 13 report, “On the Brink: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2008-09,” tracks trends in faculty salaries based on a survey of 1,259 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 survey includes data from 225 Category I (doctoral) institutions, 155 of which, including Pitt, are public institutions.

Pay comparisons at the Pittsburgh campus

The average salary for all faculty ranks combined at the Pittsburgh campus was $87,300, less than the national average for combined faculty at doctoral institutions ($90,055), but more than the average for the public school faculty combining all ranks ($84,887).

The AAUP survey showed that Pitt professors in Oakland fared better than their counterparts nationwide, averaging $127,300 (with men averaging $130,800 and women $115,700). The national average for professors in the 225 Category I schools included in the report was $123,785 (with an average of $126,214 for men and $114,860 for women).

Among the subset of 155 Category I public universities, the average pay for professors was $115,509 (men $117,840; women $106,977).

The survey showed Pitt’s average for associate professors was $85,600 (men $86,900; women $82,800) compared to $82,958 nationally (men $85,305; women $79,145).

Associate professors at Category I public schools had an average pay of $79,986 (men $82,181; women $76,448).

Assistant professors in Oakland averaged annual pay of $71,100 (men $75,200; women $67,300) compared with $70,613 nationwide (men $73,287; women $67,411) and $68,048 (men $70,503; women $65,138) for public Category I schools.

The survey showed the average Pitt instructor was paid less than the nationwide average. Instructors here earned an average of $44,500 (men $45,400; women $44,000), compared with $47,677 nationwide (men $49,135; women $46,726) and $45,491 (men $46,629; women $44,789) for public Category I schools.

Pay comparisons at three Pitt regional campuses

Pitt administrators use a group of 34 public Association of American Universities institutions for benchmarking faculty salary comparisons for the Pittsburgh campus. Those data are derived from the AAUP Academe survey report by Pitt’s Management Information and Analysis office, which currently is preparing the Pitt-specific report. Those data are expected to be presented for discussion at a May 29 University Senate budget policies committee meeting.

However, no comparable benchmarking list for Pitt’s three Category IIB (baccalaureate) regional campuses has been agreed on despite discussions that have continued for several years by regional faculty senates, regional campus presidents, University Senate committees and senior administrators. (See Feb. 19 University Times.)

According to the AAUP report, at Pitt’s three Category IIB (baccalaureate) regional campuses, most faculty members earned less than the national average of $67,337 for all ranks and less than the IIB public schools’ average of $64,933. The report included 418 IIB institutions, 76 of them public.

Combined faculty at Pitt-Bradford averaged $59,100; at Pitt-Greensburg, $56,300, and at Pitt-Johnstown, $58,300.

Professors at Pitt-Bradford averaged $74,500 (men $75,100; no data were provided on women professors, since there were three or fewer of them); Pitt-Greensburg averaged $77,800 (men $71,300; women $86,500) and Pitt-Johnstown averaged $74,100 (men $75,600; women $67,900).

Nationally, professors at Category IIB schools averaged $87,639 (men $89,051; women $84,721) and $84,488 for public school professors (men $86,240; women $81,108).

Associate professors at Pitt’s three regional campuses also lagged behind the national average of $67,240 (men $67,885; women $66,399) and $68,193 (men $69,440 women $66,108) average of the public IIB schools.

Associate professors at UPB averaged $63,000 (men $63,700; women $60,100); at UPG, $61,100 (men $62,800; women $59,700), and at UPJ, $63,700 (men $62,900; women $65,400).

The same was true for the regionals’ assistant professors. Their pay fell below the nationwide average of $55,501 (men $56,156; women $54,871) and the IIB public schools’ average of $56,977 (men $57,917; women $55,971).

In comparison, average pay for the rank at UPB was $53,400 (men $54,300; women $51,600), at UPG $50,600 (men $50,900; women $50,400) and at UPJ $50,700 (men $53,200; women $48,000).

Instructors nationwide averaged $44,967 (men $45,531; women $44,589) and instructors at public IIB schools averaged $43,970 (men $44,440; women $43,629).

UPB’s instructors averaged $47,200 (men $45,100; women $48,400).

Instructors at UPG averaged $43,400 (men $46,500; women $41,500).

Instructors at UPJ averaged $45,600 (men $51,000; women $42,400).

Pay comparisons at the Titusville campus

At Pitt-Titusville, which is among the report’s 140 Category III schools (two-year colleges with ranks), professors averaged $63,400 (male and female averages were not provided because there were three or fewer professors in each gender category).

That compares with professors who averaged $74,879 nationally and $74,933 among the 136 public Category III schools.

Pitt-Titusville’s associate professors’ salaries averaged $55,300 (men, $56,600; women $54,700).

Nationwide, such faculty averaged $60,735 (men $61,683; women $59,776) and $60,737 (men $61,697; women $59,774) for the 136 public Category III schools.

UPT assistant professors averaged $49,500 (men $47,400; women $52,200). The rank’s pay nationwide averaged $53,410 (men $53,993; women $52,914) and $53,427 (men $54,021; women $52,920) for public Category III schools.

Instructors at UPT earned an average of $49,400 (three or fewer men; women $46,400). In comparison, the national average for instructors at Category III schools was $46,072 (men $46,432; women $45,774) and $46,063 (men $46,438; women $45,752) at public Category IIIs.

The average salary for all ranks at Pitt-Titusville was $53,100. That compares to $59,310 for combined faculty at Category III schools nationally.

The full AAUP report, which appears in the March-April issue of Academe, also is available online at www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/rep/Z/ecstatreport08-09/.

—Peter Hart


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