Professors’ Raises Are Down

An article in the latest issue of The Chronicle reports that faculty raises dipped slightly this year. The median raise for college faculty members was 3.7 percent in 2008-9, down from 4 percent in 2007-8, according to an annual survey by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

Faculty members at private doctoral institutions fared better than their colleagues at public doctoral institutions — with rate increases of 4.1 and 3.3 percent, respectively. Full and associate professors at private institutions commanded the highest average increases — 4 percent, the same as last year — while instructors at public institutions got the lowest — a meager 3 percent, down from 3.8 percent. Law, engineering, and business faculty members were still the best paid, “no matter where they worked or at what rank,” while foreign languages, literature, and linguistics faculty members at public institutions were the worst paid, the article notes.

Meanwhile, the blogger PhDinHistory observes that faculty members in history are once again faring poorly on the salary scale.