Faculty Salaries Are Up 3.6%, Double the Rate of Inflation Professors at doctoral institutions receive the biggest increases By DENISE K. MAGNER Washington At 20 universities this academic year, the average salary of full professors topped $100,000. ALSO SEE: Faculty salaries at more than 1,800 institutions A special section with documents and past Chronicle stories about the academic job market On the opposite end of the pay scale were 10 institutions where full professors earned an average of less than $33,300. The figures come from the American Association of University Professors, in its annual report on the status of the profession, released last week. The report's message: 1998-99 has been a good year for faculty salaries, but a better year for some than for others. The average salary increase awarded to faculty members of all ranks and at all types of institutions was 3.6 per cent in 1998-99, more than twice the inflation rate of 1.6 per cent in 1998. Faculty members at doctoral institutions received the highest raises, averaging 4.2 per cent. As was the case last year, professors at comprehensive colleges -- which award master's and bachelor's degrees -- wound up with the lowest pay increases, with an average of 2.6 per cent. Those at liberal-arts colleges got an average raise of 3.2 per cent, and at two-year colleges, 2.7 per cent. Most professors work for the same institution from one year to the next. The A.A.U.P. calls them "continuing" faculty members and calculates their average raise, which is usually about a percentage point higher than the overall raise reported in the survey. This year, continuing faculty members won an average raise of 4.8 per cent. Both the overall average and the raise for continuing faculty members are the highest since 1990-91. When inflation is taken into account, this year's raises are the "largest single improvement" since 1986-87, according to the report, "Ups & Downs," published in the March/April issue of Academe, the A.A.U.P.'s magazine. The average salary of a college professor in academe rose to $56,282 this year. Full professors made an average of $72,721; associate professors, $53,170; and assistant professors, $43,799. Behind the numbers, however, lie some "alarming" trends, says Linda A. Bell, a professor of economics at Haverford College, who wrote the association's report and is chairwoman of its committee on the economic status of the profession. She pointed to two salary gaps that are cause for concern -- the one between what faculty members earn compared with professionals outside academe, and the one among faculty members themselves. "If you look at how we're faring in a relatively strong economy," she said in an interview, "we continue to lag far behind other professionals." In her report, Ms. Bell said she had found that faculty members earn about 30 per cent less than the average, highly educated professional in law or engineering, for example. "Lots of people are benefiting from the strong economy in much bigger ways than we are," she said, noting that one of her own students had received a job offer in the New York financial markets with a starting salary of $80,000. The salary disparities within academe are also troubling, and are growing, Ms. Bell said. "Although some among us are faring well, most of all, we are faring differently," she wrote in the report. Since 1970, average salaries, adjusted for inflation, have risen nearly 24 per cent at private, non-sectarian institutions, she found. During the same time span, however, salaries at public institutions rose only 5 per cent. Full professors at private doctoral universities in particular enjoy a hefty salary premium, according to the report. The average salary of a full professor at private institutions was $98,606, compared with $79,284 on public campuses and $83,739 at church-related colleges. By 1998-99, Ms. Bell wrote, "the salary difference between doctoral and two-year institutions had grown to 40 percent." The difference between salaries at doctoral and comprehensive universities was almost 25 per cent, while average salaries at baccalaureate colleges were nearly 39 per cent lower than those at doctoral-level universities. For example, the average salary of a faculty member at doctoral institutions this year was $64,594; at comprehensive colleges, $51,791; at liberal-arts colleges, $46,605; and at two-year institutions, $45,653. Men in academe continue to out-earn women. The survey found the average salary for a female full professor at $65,365, compared with $74,515 for her male colleague. At the assistant-professor rank, the salary disparity narrowed: women earned an average of $42,274, while men made $45,132. The pay gap between men and women is widest at research universities, particularly for faculty members at the rank of full professor. The average salary of a female full professor at a private, non-sectarian institution was $90,611, while a man of the same rank at the same type of institution made an average of $99,979. The same trend held true at public research institutions, where female full professors earned an average of $72,885, and men $80,379. This year's report is based on a survey of 1,861 institutions -- 1,017 public, 401 private, and 443 church-related campuses. The survey omits the salaries of medical professors because their pay is typically much higher than that of most other faculty members. Copies of Academe with the survey report may be purchased for $69.50, including postage, from the American Association of University Professors, 1012 14th Street, N. W., Suite 500, Washington 20005; (202) 737-5900. http://chronicle.com Section: The Faculty Page: A16