March 12, 2007

Faculty Salaries Up 3.8%

This academic year is featuring better raises for most faculty members than they received last year. Data being released today by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources show a 3.8 percent increase in median salaries in 2006-7. That compares to 3.4 percent last year and 3.2 percent the year before.

Administrators are also having a good year — their median salaries are up 4 percent, according to data released by CUPA-HR last month. As with administrators, faculty salary increases were greater at public institutions than at private institutions — a reversal from last year. For faculty salaries, the gap was 3.9 percent vs. 3.7 percent.

There are two major faculty salary surveys each year: the CUPA-HR study (which focuses on disciplines) and the American Association of University Professors (which focuses on institutional averages). The next AAUP study is due out in April.

As in past years, the CUPA-HR study found wide variations in pay rates by discipline. Law, engineering and business top the list for both public and private institutions, while the lowest paying fields vary (medicine isn’t covered as a category). Across all sectors, a full law professor earned an average of $121,301 — almost $50,000 more than a full professor of English on average. The average salary earned by a new assistant professor of engineering of $69,510 is almost $20,000 more than the average for a new assistant professor of education.

In many disciplines, the study found that new assistant professors are earning more than assistant professors on average because of the competition to attract new talent. Fields with particularly high percentages of new professors this year include area, ethnic and gender studies and the physical sciences.

Average Salaries by Discipline and Rank, 2006-7

Discipline	Full Prof	Assoc Prof	Asst Prof	New Asst Prof	Instructor
Agriculture	$82,089	$65,567	$55,614	$57,329	$41,656
Architecture	$88,652	$68,950	$55,194	$55,591	$45,289
Area, Ethnic and Cultural Studies	$91,065	$67,082	$54,414	$54,625	$41,783
Biological sciences	$82,612	$62,677	$52,510	$52,275	$41,103
Business	$98,384	$82,347	$75,835	$81,842	$51,939
Comm. and journalism	$77,307	$59,549	$50,027	$48,637	$41,230
Comm. technologies	$80,400	$60,032	$49,955	$51,721	$40,144
Computer science	$91,181	$74,780	$65,622	$68,390	$47,505
Education	$76,089	$60,276	$51,086	$50,237	$42,285
Engineering	$102,954	$79,759	$69,896	$69,510	$51,535
Engineering technologies	$78,288	$64,900	$57,542	$57,672	$44,232
English language and literature — letters	$74,040	$57,598	$47,724	$47,357	$37,573
English language and literature — general	$73,693	$56,868	$47,405	$47,006	$37,612
Family and consumer sciences	$78,255	$61,948	$51,238	$50,869	$40,320
Foreign languages	$78,279	$59,836	$49,897	$48,174	$39,137
Health professions	$84,923	$67,713	$56,756	$56,429	$48,143
History	$76,049	$58,206	$48,219	$47,145	$39,048
Law and legal studies	$121,301	$91,509	$78,294	$81,009	$61,095
Liberal arts —general humanities	$75,029	$58,144	$48,137	$48,879	$42,894
Library science	$79,309	$60,583	$49,382	$49,044	$45,195
Mathematics	$77,963	$60,723	$51,677	$52,108	$39,377
Multi/ interdisciplinary studies	$83,519	$63,231	$51,524	$53,730	$40,502
Natural resources	$83,644	$63,094	$53,726	$52,599	$43,619
Parks, recreation and leisure studies	$73,474	$59,352	$49,617	$50,287	$41,034
Philosophy and religious studies	$77,577	$59,290	$49,162	$47,894	$39,405
Physical sciences	$81,329	$62,031	$52,659	$52,395	$40,076
Physical sciences —chemistry	$79,790	$60,386	$51,293	$51,646	$39,789
Psychology	$76,949	$60,091	$50,722	$50,406	$41,179
Public administration	$80,073	$62,978	$52,643	$51,928	$44,102
Security and protective services	$77,336	$61,360	$50,901	$49,237	$41,400
Social sciences	$81,501	$63,008	$52,826	$52,619	$42,019
Social sciences —political science	$79,648	$61,247	$50,207	$50,207	$41,591
Social sciences —sociology	$78,061	$59,919	$49,935	$49,142	$39,817
Theology and religious vocations	$66,706	$55,518	$47,310	$45,665	$39,732
Visual and performing arts	$72,940	$57,881	$47,928	$46,917	$40,148
Visual and performing arts —music	$71,853	$56,768	$47,299	$46,212	$39,716

An executive summary of the salary report is available free and the full report may be ordered on CUPA-HR’s Web site.

— Scott Jaschik