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

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