HA: USM Turnover rate steady - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Aug 26, 2004

HA: USM Turnover rate steady

Date: Aug 26, 2004

Thanks for posting the link to this HA article about USM Turnover. I agree with WD that my head is spinning as I read it. I talked to a professor yesterday about the ability to fill vacant faculty positions in his department for this Fall. He said their faculty meeting last week was loaded with one year appointments. He pointed out to me that these people are "different" from adjuncts and are making a little more than the adjuncts aka "slaves".

Some questions I have about USM Turnover:

*How many faculty positions were filled with tenurable persons?
*How many faculty positions were filled with 1-year appointments?
*How many faculty positions were filled with "adjunct" persons?

If these nummbers are known, USM will probably fall to the USNR 5th Tier!

Date: Aug 26, 2004

The newspaper report missed the mark. The trend question could be answered fairly easily by noting the proportion of departing faculty at each level (tenured, tenurable persons, 1-year appointments, adjunct, etc.) and overall proportion.

Shoobee can't be filling the slots as fast as they are emptying . . .

Date: Aug 26, 2004

Here are some comparisons dredged from the USM Factbook, using 2001-2002 as the "pre-Thames" baseline for evaluating the 2003-2004 state of affairs. The numbers represent Hattiesburg & Gulf Coast campuses combined.

From 2001 to 2003, the number of full professors increased by one percent (2 heads), while the number of associate professors decreased by 14% (22 heads). The number of assistant professors also decreased (by 2% or 3 heads), while the number of instructors rose by 22% (18 heads). The factbook lists an "other" category: in 2001, there were no faculty listed in this line, but in 2003 there were 70.

The number of tenured faculty has decreased by 21% (96 heads), while the number of tenure track faculty rose by 105% (91 heads) for a net decrease of five tenured or tenure track positions. The number of non-tenure track faculty increased by 78% (68 heads).

In terms of pay, the average salary of full professors increased 2% between 2001 and 2003. The average salary of associate professors decreased by 2%. The average salary of assistant professors increased by 20% (almost $9000), and the average salary of instructors declined by 13% (about $4700). What struck me as weird is that in 2003, the average associate professor made $1,003 less than the average assistant professor.

The factbook further disaggregates the data by department & campus. I'm sure the real insights rest in that information for those who care to fry those fish.

Date: Aug 26, 2004

the salary data are not surprising. the "marketplace" gets a raise yearly (meaning new assistant professors can ask what the marketplace salary is) but other ranks don't. we've got a serious salary compression issue (had it for 10 years or more). I saw the salary information for the IHL management report and USM is at the back of the pack of not only other MS universities (the big two) but others in the southeast as well as well. Full professors at USM are further behind the median salary of full professors at other universities in the southeast than are the other ranks. i know departments hiring assistant professors this year where they were making $1-2000 less than newly minted full professors.

Date: Aug 26, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"the salary data are not surprising. the "marketplace" gets a raise yearly (meaning new assistant professors can ask what the marketplace salary is) but other ranks don't. we've got a serious salary compression issue (had it for 10 years or more). I saw the salary information for the IHL management report and USM is at the back of the pack of not only other MS universities (the big two) but others in the southeast as well as well. Full professors at USM are further behind the median salary of full professors at other universities in the southeast than are the other ranks. i know departments hiring assistant professors this year where they were making $1-2000 less than newly minted full professors. "

This is not a problem unique to USM. I was at a true tier 1 school where this was a serious problem. Over several years, with the concerted effort of administrators dedicated to the objective, top salaries were paid to incoming assistants. Associates and Fulls were brought up commensurately to alleviate the compression (and sometimes inversion) problems of the marketplace. Everyone benefitted. Takes time, commitment to common goals, and trust - three things in short supply at USM.