Although Ohio University's average faculty salary ranks in the middle of all Ohio public universities, comparisons to national peer universities have faculty members the most concerned.
We're competing with universities across the whole country
not just in Ohio said Phyllis Bernt, chair of Faculty Senate and professor in the School of Communication Systems Management.
OU pays its faculty $4,000 to $20,500 less than nine of the 10 peer universities, schools to which OU compares itself, according to the 2005-06 Ohio University Faculty Salary Study. The lack of competitive salaries makes it harder to recruit and retain high-quality faculty members, Bernt said.
We hire nationally not statewide
she said. When we recruit faculty
we recruit nationally
so we have to know how we stack up nationally. When we look at how we stacked up with the presidential peers
we're at the bottom. That's incredibly eye-opening.
Progress OU made with a 6.8 percent increase in average faculty salary between 2003 and 2004 was offset by a 3.5 percent decrease from 2005 to 2006, according to Post research.
Bernt said the faculty ' which consists of professors, associate professors and assistant professors ' were aware of the downward trend but needed to get the attention of the administration before it could be reversed. That happened through the VisionOhio strategic planning process, which outlined academic priority as the recommended guide for allocating resources.
I think if you don't pay attention
you lose your competitive position
Bernt said. It's a really positive thing that it is on the agenda and that the administration sees that we need to do something about this.
OU Provost Kathy Krendl created the Faculty Compensation Taskforce, composed of three deans and three faculty members, which will present options to the Budget Planning Committee in late January or early February.
This is really a big step for OU in putting faculty compensation at the top of the list
she said at the Jan. 8 Faculty Senate meeting. Nothing else will happen at budget meetings until faculty compensation issues are resolved.
If we don't do that then we can't do anything else or be truly committed to recruiting and retaining high-quality faculty.
The 2005 average faculty salary for professors at OU is $88
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