Faculty salary comparison shows little change from previous year

By DONOVAN HARRELL

Pitt’s average salary ranking for professors and lecturers hasn’t changed over the past year, but associate professors, assistant professors and instructors have gotten a small bump in pay and ranking.

Robert Goga, the director of Institutional Research, presented the 2018-19 “Average Salaries of Faculty: A Peer Group Analysis” to the Budget Policies Committee on Nov. 15.

The analysis compares the average salaries of professors, associate professors, assistant professors, instructors and lecturers with 34 public peer institutions in the Association of American Universities.

Compared to last year’s report, Pitt’s average salary for faculty members increased in all categories: Full professors, up 2.4 percent; associate professors, 2.1 percent; assistant professors, 1.6 percent; instructors, 4.1 percent; and lecturers, 2.4 percent.

Pitt’s goal is to keep salaries around the median of these peer institutions. Salaries are calculated based on an academic year metric instead of a 12-month metric.

Goga cautioned that the AAU survey is not without flaws. It doesn’t account for faculty age, school or department or tenure status. The cost of living for the regions of the participating schools aren’t included either.

Faculty data from the School of Medicine also are omitted. The full report can be accessed here under “documents.”

Pittsburgh campus

Professors

Pitt’s 482 full-time professors ranked 16th among public AAU schools with an average salary of $156,700. While the rank remains the same, Pitt’s 480 professors earned an average of $153,000 last year.

Associate professors

The 410 associate professors ranked 21st with an average salary of $103,200. Last year, Pitt’s 413 associate professors ranked 23rd with an average salary of $101,100.

Assistant professors

The 503 assistant professors ranked 25th with an average salary of $87,000. Last year, Pitt’s 510 assistant professors ranked 27th with an average salary of $85,600. 

Instructors

The 180 instructors at Pitt ranked 15th out of the 20 schools that reported and earned an average salary of $57,900. Last year, Pitt’s 158 instructors ranked 17th with an average salary of $55,600. 

Lecturers

Pitt’s 251 lecturers ranked last (28th) with an average salary of $54,700. Last year, Pitt’s 230 lecturers ranked 28th out of 29 schools with an average salary of $53,400. 

Regional campuses

Pitt–Bradford, Pitt–Greensburg and Pitt–Johnstown were grouped together as one weighted average that was compared to a peer group of 95 different institutions with 109 campuses in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, or IPEDS.

Data for this report is based on 2017-2018 salary information, a year difference from the Pittsburgh campus data.

Faculty salaries were reported on a nine-month equivalent basis, calculated by multiplying the IPEDs average weighted monthly salary by nine.

Rankings are in decile with the first decile representing the top 10 percent and the 10th decile representing the bottom 10 percent.

Professors

The 28 professors at Pitt’s three regional campuses ranked near the bottom of the fifth decile with an average salary of $90,500. Last year, the professors ranked near the top of the sixth decile with an average salary of $88,400. 

Associate professors

The 111 associate professors ranked at the top of the sixth decile with an average salary of $71,900. Last year, the campuses’ 107 associate professors ranked at the bottom of the fifth decile with an average salary of $71,300.

Assistant professors

The 100 assistant professors at the regional campuses were at the top of the 7th decile with an average salary of $59,000. Last year, the campuses’ 101 assistant professors ranked 11th out of 12 schools in the sixth decile with an average salary of $57,900.

Instructors/lecturers

This year, the 54 instructors and lecturers had an average salary of $48,600, ranking fourth out of the eight schools in the seventh decile. Last year, the 55 instructors and lecturers ranked third out of nine in the seventh decile with an average salary of $47,700.

Donovan Harrell is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at dharrell@pitt.edu or 412-383-9905.

 

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