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[gra_gra]

I have an on-campus visit for a state school and have found data on salaries - with an average salary for assistant profs at $61K as of 2 years ago. If I receive an offer, as a brand new faculty member (I graduate in May) do I ask for the average (or more than) or do I ask for a little less assuming some Assistant Professors have been doing this longer than I? I am still figuring out how to visit the library and/or figure out what recent hires have made when I imagine I will be accompanied pretty much all the time during the campus visit.

Thanks for any advice you can offer...

[acrimone]

You let them make the first offer, then you counter.

ALWAYS.  Circumloquate to the extent possible.  If they absolutely press you, based on a 61K average, I'd answer with a range: 50-65.  See where they go with that.

[zharkov]

Go for at least the average; the yearly increases are more or less the rate of inflation.

[busyslinky]

It depends on your area of study.  The average has a significant standard deviation sometimes.  You may be underpricing yourself or setting yourself up for disappointment. Refine your research a little more if you can.

Good luck.

[coffeebuzz]

Read "Getting to Yes", someone suggested that on these forums a while ago, while I was renegotiating my contract.  It made a huge difference in how I approached negotiating. 

When negotiating your contract don't over look things that are outside of you salary; moving expenses, travel/research funds, conference funding, setup funds, etc.  I wouldn't have thought about these things but they were suggested to me by friends and mentors. 

From what I understand when dealing with public universities who have union contracts your salary is dictated (at least to a range) by your education level and time teaching, but they have more freedom with other funding for travel, research, moving expenses....

If there is a union contract with a salary schedule, ask to see it.  Sometimes they are posted on the university website.

[prof_twocents]

Averages across all disciplines and across 6 years of assistant status can be highly misleading.

Across disciplines: I work at a medium sized southern regional university. This year, new tt Humanities profs will get $43k. New business profs will get $100k+.  The "average" between those two would obviously be misleading for professors in both areas.

[nosetu]

If this is a public university go to their library or budget office and you most likely can look at the university's detailed budget showing what all faculty in the department are making.  You might base your request upon what other assistant profs are making.  Good luck.