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Washburn University

2005-06 Faculty Salary Analysis

(Source: Office of Institutional Research, Washburn University)

According to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), average salaries of full-time faculty rose by 3.1% in 2005-06 compared to 2.8% in 2003-04. However, because of inflation at 3.5%, faculty salaries actually decreased for the second year in a row. The impact of inflation hit public master's level institutions even harder where faculty salaries increased by only 2.2%.

Washburn faculty fared better, receiving increases higher than the national average. The Washburn Board of Regents appropriated 4.0% for salary increase in 2005-06, resulting in an increase of 3.7% for all full-time faculty and 4.0% when excluding law school faculty. The increase for all continuing faculty is higher at 5.0%.

This analysis compares Washburn University's average faculty salaries excluding law school faculty for the 2005-06 academic year to the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) institutions and master's level institutions. Trend data are also provided.

Comparison with KBOR Institutions

In 2005-06, the Kansas legislature approved a 2.5% base salary increase for the state's public four-year educational institutions and an additional 1% for faculty salary enhancements. Institutions were also allowed to allocate funds for salary salaries from tuition revenues.

In this section, Washburn's faculty salaries are compared with the state's public four-year educational institutions including the University of Kansas (KU), Kansas State University (KSU), Wichita State University (WSU), Emporia State University (ESU), Pittsburgh State University (PSU), and Fort Hays State University (FHSU). The average salaries for all ranks and all KBOR institutions are weighted.

• Overall, between 2004-05 and 2005-06 salary increases at the KBOR institutions ranged from 1.8% at ESU and PSU to 5.6% at KU. When considering only continuing faculty, the increases are greater: professor salary increases ranged from 3.5% at ESU and PSU to 5.4% at KU; salary increases for associate professors ranged from 3.7% at ESU to 6.2% at KU, and for assistant professors, from 4.0% at PSU to 6.6% at KU.
• For 2005-06, Washburn's weighted average faculty salary for all ranks (professor, associate, assistant, and instructor) was $60,205. The comparable average salary for the entire Regents system was $65,870, with Washburn's average 8.6% lower than the KBOR institutions. Washburn's average salaries were below the KBOR average at every rank except instructor.
• When KU and KSU are excluded from the analysis, Washburn's average faculty salary ($60,205) is $3,766 higher or 6.7% greater than the average salary of $56,439 for the four remaining institutions. Although Washburn's overall salary is above average, it is slightly below average (less than 1%) at eh associate and assistant ranks; Washburn's average salary is above average at the ranks of professor by 4.7% and instructor by 16.3%. Note that last year Washburn was below average at all ranks except for instructor.
• Since the KBOR institutions rely heavily on instructors and graduate students (not included in this analysis), a comparison of the top three ranks (professor, associate, assistant) is provided in table 1 (pdf). When compared with the four KBOR institutions excluding KU and KSU, Washburn's average salary of $60,536 for these three ranks is greater than the KBOR average of $60,049 by almost 1%. When all six KBOR institutions are considered, Washburn's average salary is 12% below KBOR's average salary of $69,011.
• In table 2 (pdf), when compared with the six Regents institutions in 2001-02, Washburn's average salaries ranked behind KU, KSU, and WSU at the professor and associate levels. At the assistant professor level, Washburn ranked only above FHSU. By 2003-04, Washburn's average salary for assistant professors had moved ahead of ESU, PSU and FHSU. Today, Washburn's average salaries at all levels rank below KU, KSU, and WSU, and higher than the average salaries for ESU, PSU, and FHSU.

Comparison with Master's Level Institutions

Average faculty salaries in this section are from AAUP, which has been collecting salary data annually from colleges and universities since the late 1970s and publishing it in the magazine, Academe. Approximately 1,500 institutions are represented in this year's report.

Table 3 (pdf) presents average faculty salaries in 2001-02, 2003-04, and 2005-06 for master's level institutions including all public and private institutions; public only institutions; and public and private institutions by region of the country. Kansas institutions are reported in the West North Central region.

Table 4 (pdf) shows Washburn's progress since 1997-98 in bringing salaries closer to the average for public master's level institutions, and table 5 (pdf) provides a comparison of Washburn's average salaries by rank with public master's institutions nationally and in the West North Central region.

• Washburn's average salary in 2005-06 for full professors was $75,971 compared to $78,884 for public master's level institutions. Although Washburn remains below the average, it has made significant progress in bringing salaries for professors closer to the average for public master's level institutions. In 2001-02, Washburn salaries were 10.3% below the average for public master's institutions; this gap has narrowed to 3.7% in 2005-06. Approximately $157,300 would be needed to bring salaries for Washburn professors to the 2005-06 average for public master's level institutions.
• Washburn's average salary for associate professors was $58,945 compared to $62,700 for public master's level institutions. A 6.4% increase or $232,800 would be needed to bring salaries for Washburn associate professors to the 2005-06 average for public master's level institutions.
• Washburn's average salary for assistant professors was $49,054 compared to $52,873 for public master's level institutions. A 7.8% increase or $244,400 would be needed to bring salaries for Washburn assistant professors to the 2005-06 average for public master's level institutions.
• Although average salaries at Washburn remain lower than the national average, Washburn has made progress toward achieving average salary parity with public master's level institutions nationally. In 1999-2000, the gap was over $1.0 million; the gap is now $635,000. In current dollars, the 1999-2000 gap is $1.2 million, which better portrays the progress Washburn has made in closing the gap.
• In 2001-02, Washburn's average professor salaries ranked below eight of the nine regions reported by AAUP for public and private master's institutions; only institutions in the East South Central region (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee) had lower average salaries for professors, By 2005-06, Washburn's ranking had improved, with salaries in the West South Central, East South Central, West North central, and Mountain regions ranking below Washburn.
• For associate professors, Washburn's salary ranking has remained essentially the same with three regions ranking below Washburn, although the mix of regions is different. In 2001-02, salaries for Washburn's assistant professors ranked below all nine regions; by 2003-04, one regional (East South Central) ranked below Washburn. In 2005-06, the ranking for assistant professors lost ground dropping below all nine regions once again.
• Although Washburn's average faculty salaries are below the national average, they are above or relatively close to the average for master's institutions in the West North Central region, the region in which Kansas institutions are included (see table 5 pdf ). In 2005-06, the average salary for Washburn professors ($75,971) was $3,353 higher than the average salary for the region ($72,618). The average salary for Washburn associate professors ($58,945) was also higher than the region average of $58,498 by $447. Only salaries for assistant professors at $49,054 were below the West North Central region of $49,740 by $686.

Summary

Although Washburn's average faculty salaries are below the national average at all ranks, Washburn has made progress in recent years toward achieving salary parity with the national average for public master's institutions and public and private institutions within the region. For example, table 5 (pdf) illustrates that in 2001-02 the difference between Washburn's average salary for professors and the average at public master's institutions was $7,466 or 10% below the national average; by 2005-06, the difference was reduced to $2,913 or 4%.

Improvements have also occurred in the West North Central region and average salaries at Washburn are above the regions average salaries for professors and associate professors. Salaries at the assistant professor level are close to the region's average at 99%. Within Kansas, Washburn's salaries are in the middle of the six public four-year institutions - below KU, KSU, and WSU, and above ESU, FHSU, and PSU.