Pitt’s average faculty salaries largely the same in AAU rankings

By SUSAN JONES

The annual report on how Pitt’s faculty salaries compare to peers in the American Association of Universities shows very little change in the rankings from last year.

Amanda Brodish, associate vice provost for data analytics, presented the report on salaries for full-time faculty on the Oakland campus and at the regionals to the Senate Budget Policies Committee on Dec. 10. This year’s report included figures for actual salaries and adjusted for cost of living, as compared to the 35 other public AAU schools.

Overall, average salaries for faculty at Pitt and several other public AAUs went down between fiscal year 2020 and 2021, Brodish said. This can be attributed to many higher-paid, long-time professors choosing to retire and no pay increases for those that remain, she said.

The numbers below are for full-time faculty with instructional duties. Visiting professors are reported as instructors and School of Medicine faculty are excluded, per AAU’s policy.

Oakland campus

Professors (36 schools in this group): 467 faculty

Average salary, $161,800

Rank, 16

Adjusted for cost of living rank, 15

2019-2020 rank, 16

Associate professors (36 schools): 439 faculty

Average salary, $104,400

Rank, 23

Adjusted for cost of living rank, 18

2019-20 rank, 25

Assistant professor (36 schools): 520 faculty

Average salary, $89,000

Rank, 28

Adjusted for cost of living rank, 22

2019-20 rank, 26

Instructors (22 schools): 140 faculty

Average salary, $54,600

Rank, 18

Adjusted for cost of living rank, 17;

2019-20 rank, 15

Lecturers (32 schools): 260 faculty

Average salary, $57,100

Rank, 28

Adjusted for cost of living rank, 28

2019-20 rank, 29

In February, Faculty Assembly unanimously approved and Chancellor Patrick Gallagher supported a resolution calling for the chancellor and provost to take decisive action in the University’s 2021-2022 budget to make sure the University works to meet its salary targets outlined in the Salary Increase Policy.

The policy sets the goal for average faculty salaries, outside the School of Medicine, to be at or above the median when compared to the other public AAU institutions.

At the Dec. 10 meeting, Steve Wisniewski, vice provost for budget & analytics, said that’s still the goal, but, “What I can’t comment on at this stage is what our plan is and how to achieve that,” because of the collective bargaining now required after the faculty voted to unionize in October.

Tyler Bickford, chair of the Budget Policies committee, responded: “I think it’s important to say that (the Salary Increase Policy) is the the policy of the University and not just the administration’s preference or priority.”

Regional campuses

For the purpose of this report, the salaries at all three of Pitt’s four-year regional campuses — Johnstown, Greensburg and Bradford — were combined. In addition, instructors and lecturers were put into one category. Institutions are grouped into deciles based on the average salaries — decile 1 represents the top 10 percent, decile 2 the next lower 10 percent, etc. through decile 10 which represents the bottom 10 percent.

This benchmark group is based on data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The latest peer group includes baccalaureate colleges without a professional focus (as defined by the Carnegie Classification 2018) located in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The data is from 2019-20.

Professors: 31 faculty; average salary, $94,100; decile 5; adjusted for cost of living, decile 2

Associate professors: 131 faculty; average salary, $74,300; decile 5; adjusted for cost of living, decile 2

Assistant professors: 93 faculty; average salary, $60,900; decile 6; adjusted for cost of living, decile 1

Instructors and lecturers: 59 faculty; average salary, $51,800; decile 5; adjusted for cost of living, decile 1

Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

 

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