University faculty may finally get what’s coming to them.
An anonymous donation of $5.2 million to the Fund for Faculty Excellence doubled the amount in the fund, which is devoted to recruiting and retaining exceptional faculty members.
This fund is considered essential by many, because of the University’s unusually low faculty salaries.
“Overall faculty salaries are low at Oregon in part because of the low level of support that the University has been able to secure from the state,” said Russell Tomlin, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, “which makes the institutions we compete with often able to take better care of faculty than we’ve been able to.”
The donation matches the initial establishing donation announced last October. Twenty professors have already been named as recipients of this year’s pay and research supplements, which will be awarded annually throughout the next five years. A committee of distinguished faculty recommends names to the provost, who ultimately selects the recipients.
Governor Ted Kulongoski addressed the recurring issue of low faculty salaries at the University in a recommended budget revealed in December. His $8 million request will be either approved or denied by the legislature sometime during this legislative session.
“The governor is recognizing the need to boost faculty salaries and has provided $8 million to support that,” said Associate Vice President of Public and Government Affairs Michael Redding. “Hopefully the legislature will approve that request.”
For the sake of University students, faculty and officials, it may have to.
Oregon University System institutions pay faculty “Approximately 86 percent of the average of their peers’ salaries,” according to the OUS 2007-2009 Governor’s Recommended Budget Fact Sheet. That average will increase two percent if the budget is approved.
University President Dave Frohnmayer stressed the importance of private donations and called them a “crucial investment in the future quality of education we offer our students,” according to a press release from the first announcement.
The fund may be influential enough to secure professors considering jumping ship.
“It’ll be very effective in both recognition and helping the University retain its best faculty,” Tomlin said, while stressing that salary is not the only draw for a professor.
“I think all of us who are faculty,” he said, “are really proud of the anonymous donor for having such commitment to academic excellence to make the kind of gift that makes such an incredible difference for our faculty.”
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