April 2005 Newsletter
Priscilla Thain, Newsletter Editor

Ranked Faculty Salaries at 7.3% Below Peers for 2004-2005

President Reilly requests a pay plan of 3% each year in addition to the $5 million for competitive compensation. State Director of Employment Relations proposes 2% each year plus 1% in April 2007.

The AAUP (American Association of University Professionals) faculty salary comparison for 2004-05 shows that UW-Madison's ranking within its official faculty salary peer group declined this year compared to its rankings in 2003-04. UW-Madison fell from 11th place down to 12th place for full professors; from 4th place to 6th place for associate professors; and from 5th place to 8th place for assistant professors. View table of salary comparisons »

The table provides average AAUP 2004-05 salary figures for UW-Madison and the universities belonging to the official UW-Madison faculty salary peer group.

Figure 1. Pay Increase Needed to Bring Faculty Salaries to Peer Group Medians Click on thumbnail to view larger version

Based on the professorial rank mix in UW-Madison's October 2004 payroll, the overall salary increase needed to place each faculty rank at its respective peer group median now stands at 7.3%, compared to 3.9% in 2003-2004 (Figure 1). The AAUP also reports an “All Ranks” combined average salary for each university. When a 2004-05 peer comparison is tabulated based on this “All Ranks” average, it puts UW-Madison above the peer group median by 1.2 percent.

The “All Ranks” salary averages (which include instructors, lecturers, and non-ranked faculty) do not adjust for differences in rank mix between UW-Madison and peer institutions. For example, UW-Madison reports 55% of its “All Ranks” faculty as full professors and 3% as lecturers, while the peer universities' All Ranks faculty are 45% full professors and 8% lecturers, on average. In contrast to an “All Ranks” comparison, the rank-by-rank salary comparison does a better job of controlling for differences in the composition of the faculty reported to the AAUP by the peer universities and UW-Madison.

The rank-by-rank method of salary comparison was approved in 1984 by the Governor's Faculty Compensation Study Committee, which also established the official salary peer group for UW-Madison. That commission established three peer comparison groups, for UW-Madison, for UW-Milwaukee, and for the 11 UW Comprehensive universities. In requesting a pay plan, UW System takes the average need of the three system peer groups. As of November 2004, UW System faculty were computed to be 6.3% below peer median.

In a March 29 letter to the Joint Committee on Finance, UW President Kevin Reilly asked for a pay plan of three percent each year plus the five million dollars for competitive compensation that Governor Doyle recommends in his budget. Karen Timberlake, Director of the State Office of Employment Relations, recently proposed a pay plan for faculty and staff of 2% starting July 1, 2005, 2% starting July 1 2006, and 1% starting April 2007. The Legislature's Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER) will need to approve this plan. It is not clear when JCOER will take up the proposal.

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