Section III.B: Faculty Salary Policy - College of Arts and Sciences
Every third year each faculty member submits to the department chair or surrogate a review file consisting of a current curriculum vitae, answers to the Professional Activities Questionnaire, a review file consisting of a current curriculum vitae, answers to the Professional Activities Questionnaire, student teaching evaluations for those courses taught during the review period (faculty may exclude evaluations for one course section in each triennial review period), copies of publications or papers, and other materials referred to in the Professional Activities Questionnaire. In the event that the chair is the subject of the review, the associate dean shall appoint a tenured faculty member to fulfill the chair’s role in the review process. After reviewing these materials, the department chair or surrogate shall write a letter to the dean assessing the faculty member’s performance in the areas of teaching, scholarship or creative activity, and institutional service. A copy of the chair’s letter shall also be given to the faculty member under review, who shall have a week to add a response to the file.
Faculty have the option of submitting their files in the second year after a review.
After reviewing the files, possibly in consultation with department chairs (or surrogates) and the associate dean, and taking into account the most recent salary reviews, the dean of the College shall make recommendations to the president regarding salary. Thereafter, the dean shall inform the faculty member of the decision, including a written rationale for the decision.
The dean of the College shall review the performance of the associate dean, including relevant teaching and scholarly activities, by following the procedures for review of members of the administrative staff.
Each year, prior to review, the dean of the College shall provide the faculty with the current distribution of tenured Faculty, tenure-track Faculty and Faculty With Term salaries.
Salary increases are awarded based on two separate components.
The first component is a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) expressed as a percentage of a faculty member’s salary equal to the previous year’s rate of inflation measured by the increase in the national Consumer Price Index (CPI). The COLA adjustment is added to the faculty member’s base salary. COLA adjustments shall be the first priority of the Dean’s Office in awarding salary increases. Only when all faculty have been awarded a COLA adjustment may the Dean award adjustments based on merit.
The second component is a merit adjustment expressed as a fixed dollar amount. Each merit level (1-3) is assigned a dollar amount. The merit adjustment is added to the faculty member’s base salary. Merit adjustments are awarded at one of three levels (1-3) with the exact dollar amounts for each level to be determined annually by the Dean of the College.
Excellent teaching, excellent scholarly or creative activity, and quality service are expected of all faculty members in all reviews. Merit increases are to recognize those faculty members who exceed expectations in one or more areas of their review. A faculty member who is evaluated as clearly surpassing the expected standards of performance in teaching, scholarly or creative activities, and institutional service will be awarded the highest merit increase. Those evaluated as surpassing expected standards in some, but not all three, areas will be awarded either an intermediate or low merit increase. It is important to note that even superlative performance in scholarly, creative, or service activities will not be a substitute for excellent teaching in any review.”
In extraordinary circumstances the dean of the College may award special merit raises for truly outstanding performance or, contrariwise, in the event of clearly unmeritorious award no raise. In either of these two extraordinary cases, the faculty member will be reviewed again the following year.
Consistent with the strategic mission of the College and the well-being of the institution, the faculty strongly advocate that every year the salary pool is at least equal to the inflation rate as measured by the national Consumer Price Index. If the administration cannot meet this policy, the Dean, in consultation with the Budget Advisory Committee, should make salary decisions with an emphasis on promoting equity.