UI, UNI slip in average faculty pay, report says

The University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa slipped slightly in average faculty salaries compared to schools in their athletic conferences, while Iowa State University gained ground in the Big XII Conference.

The figures are from the annual salary report by the American Association of University Professors. The 2010-11 report was released today.

ISU's average faculty salary across all faculty ranks was $88,300, according to the survey, second in the Big XII Conference, compared to sixth place last year. The UI's average faculty salary, $95,000, was seventh in the Big Ten Conference, compared to sixth last year. UNI's average faculty salary of $69,100 was seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference, down from sixth last year.

All faculty ranks includes professor, associate professor, assistant professor and instructor. Medical school faculty are excluded from the tabulations, which include all other faculty members who have contracts for the full academic year.

ISU doesn't fare nearly as well when compared to its self-identified group of peer schools. ISU's average faculty salary ranks 10th in that group, which includes schools such as Illinois, Michigan State, Arizona, Wisconsin and University of California-Davis.

ISU, the UI and UNI all have self-identified peer groups of 10 other public universities that they use for comparison in areas such as salary and tuition and fees.

The UI ranks eighth out of its 11-member peer group for average salary, while UNI ranks seventh in its 11-member peer group.

UI Interim Provost P. Barry Butler declined to comment on the rankings until he had seen the report. ISU officials also said they didn't want to comment on salary rankings until they had seen the numbers.

Average faculty salaries reported in this year's AAUP survey for other area schools include: Coe College, $64,100; Cornell College, $63,300; Kirkwood Community College, $55,200. Drake University in Des Moines, also in the Missouri Valley Conference with UNI, topped that group with an average salary of $77,600.

According to the AAUP, for the second consecutive year, the overall average salary level increased at a rate less than inflation. This year's report examines two major aspects of the recession's impact: the ongoing expansion of contingent academic employment and growing salary inequality, both within the faculty and between faculty members and college and university presidents.

The report lists average salary by faculty rank and gender at more than 1,300 colleges and universities.