Ohio University administrators finally wrote a plan to raise faculty compensation after Faculty Senate had been requesting the change for years.
The official report won’t be released for a few weeks, but the task force convened to propose a $3.9 million investment goal for the faculty compensation pool over a period of three years.
The plan was outlined at Friday’s Budget Planning Council meeting.
If implemented, it would make OU the third best in the state for average faculty salary and benefits compared to the 11 other Ohio public universities, said John Day, associate provost for academic budget and planning.
“The provost had promised (the Board of Trustees) some information about that at the January meeting, so we’re giving them what the task force have concluded so far,” Day said.
The new ranking would reinforce a promise the Board of Trustees made in a 1976 trustee resolution to remain in the upper quartile — which would be a ranking no lower than third — among Ohio public universities faculty salaries and total compensation, according to a previous Post article.
The current speculated plan would increase the compensation pool by $1.3 million each year for three years in addition to traditional increase trends to keep in line with other universities and their changing faculty compensations, Day said.
“That’s another reason for making it a multiyear plan, so you can do it for one year, see what everybody did as well as what you did and see how far did you get toward achieving the goal,” Day said.
Flexibility in the plan is also especially important while OU considers compensation for all staff under its “Compensation 2014 project,” said Chad Mitchell, OU’s budget director.
The project will rename employee groups and positions to more accurately compare OU employees and their salaries to similar positions in other industries, Mitchell said.
The team will begin comparing OU’s pay structure to similar jobs in April to start adjusting salaries in December 2014.
“Until we identify employee groups who we need to make adjustments for, we won’t know the cost adjustment associated with Comp 2014,” Mitchell said.
Elizabeth Sayrs, chairwoman of Faculty Senate, said she is glad to see a plan formed to address OU’s comparatively low faculty compensation rates but worries OU might increase health care premiums and consider it a salary increase instead of adjusting base salaries.
“I think it’s really good to have a plan on paper, and I look forward to seeing the details,” Sayrs said.
dk123111@ohiou.edu
@DanielleRose84
