Each year, the NEA Higher Education Advocate produces “The Special Salary Study” which compares salaries at universities and colleges nationwide to identify salary trends across institutions. The 2016-2017 Faculty Salary Report examines full-time faculty salaries for 9-10 month contracts in 1570 public institutions, with state data grouped by level of degree offered. The full report can be viewed HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source:  NEA Higher Education Advocate, 36(2), PAGE 18

Compared to the other doctoral granting institutions in Florida’s State University system,

• UNF ranks 8^th of 10 in average salary for Professors,
• UNF ranks 9^th of 10 in average salary for Associate Professors,
• UNF ranks 9^th of 10 in average salary for Assistant Professors,
• UNF ranks 10^th of 10 in average salary for Instructors, and
• UNF ranks 9^th of 10 in overall average salary for full-time faculty.

UNF was the only doctoral granting institution in Florida’s State University system to experience a negative change (-0.1%) in salary from the 2015-16 academic year to the 2016-17 academic year.

 

Former administrators retain the rate of pay they received as administrators even after they have returned to their non-administrator faculty roles. Typically, former administrators keep all or a portion of the stipend they received for their administrator role (depending on length of service) and the only adjustment to their former administrative salaries is that they are adjusted to 9 months rather than 12. This results in former administrators being paid significantly more than their departmental same-rank peers. In addition, former administrators are usually awarded a one-semester sabbatical at full administrator pay before returning to their faculty roles. According to the Provost, this practice is official Academic Affairs policy (the actual AA policy, while used universally for administrators, refers only to associate deans and chairs returning to faculty roles rather than to deans, vice presidents, former provosts, etc.).

COMPARE FORMER UNF ADMINISTRATORS’ SALARIES TO THOSE OF THEIR PEERS

There are a number of concerns regarding this practice. First, it is costly to maintain. UNF spends over $440,000 annually to provide higher pay for former administrators with no resultant benefits to the university community. Second, UNF remains at the bottom of the SUS in terms of faculty pay. Faculty are repeatedly told that there is no money for even modest faculty raises because of the reduction in base E & G funding from the state related to the performance metrics. Third, the legality of the practice is questionable. State law (Florida Statutes, Title 14, Chapter 215.425) prohibits additional compensation past the expiration of one’s contracted duties, it requires that additional compensation schemes must be open to all employees, and it requires regular assessment to evaluate the work of those receiving additional pay. Because this practice appears to be in violation of state statute, we have filed an inquiry with Florida’s Chief Inspector General.

Note: Though public record (and available upon request), we have removed individual faculty names from the data above. Again, our goal is not to single out specific former administrators but rather to highlight the ramifications of the practice itself.