Professor salaries remain on par

Though faculty salaries at Penn remain competitive with those at peer institutions, a recent report shows a growing discrepancy between the salaries of full, associate and assistant professors. The Faculty Senate committee report, which was submitted to Provost Robert Barchi and then to the deans, shows that the salary difference is particularly acute in the fine arts and some engineering fields. According to Larry Gross, chairman of the Faculty Senate and a Communications professor, the Senate is concerned about the discrepancy. However, he added, it reflects a trend in higher education. "That same pattern shows up among all our competitors," Gross said. English Department Chairman John Richetti agreed with Gross. "[In English] the other two ranks lag behind, especially the assistant professors," Richetti said. "The starting salaries we pay are competitive, but they are a little below the starting salaries of our peer institutions." However, Richetti also said that assistant professors tend to be less concerned about salary than their tenured counterparts. "Assistant professors are happy to have a job in the Ivy League," he said. "They've been graduate students when they were poor as church mice." And Gross said that Penn salaries are generally competitive with peer institutions. "Penn is doing pretty well," Gross said. "On the whole, Penn has been doing quite well in comparison with our competitors." In the most recent numbers compiled by the American Association of University Professors, Penn pays full professors $114,800, associate professors $80,500 and assistant professors $67,000 on average. By comparison, Princeton University pays $120,000, $71,900 and $66,500 in the same categories. Cornell University comes in lower than Penn in all three categories, paying $97,900, $72,300 and $61,400, respectively. Barchi also stressed that Penn salaries are on the same level with its peers. "I think that overall, across the University, professor salaries are competitive," Barchi said. The Senate's report cites a Massachusetts Institute of Technology survey of 23 private and public research institutions, including Penn. According to the report, Penn ranks at or slightly above the middle in pay for full professors in the Natural Sciences, Humanities and Engineering. Penn sits near the top in salaries for Architecture -- which includes all Graduate School of Fine Arts professors. Penn also stays near the top for Management professors, which includes all Wharton faculty. And much like growing differences between full, associate and assistant professor salaries, salary differences between Wharton and the College reflect the state of the market. "It reflects market conditions," Finance Professor Richard Stambaugh said. "Whether it's fair or unfair is a philosophical question that I don't think is easily answered." Stambaugh added that the market is generally perceived as fair because it seeks to "efficiently allocate resources." Richetti said that in general, full professors feel that they are fairly paid, but that the pay always could be higher. "In my department, people feel adequately compensated," he said. "I feel that I'm adequately compensated, but I would like a big raise. I'm human." Samuel Preston, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, agreed that pay for professors could be higher. "I think what professors do is one of the most important activities, and I would like to see it rewarded better than it is," Preston said. Salary remains important in recruiting and retaining professors, but Gross said that pay is not the only factor that schools need to consider. "Salary in some circumstances is not the largest or only significant factor, particularly in recruiting," he said. Gross added that science professorships have large start-up costs -- upwards of $5,000 -- to provide for labs and equipment. Furthermore, Gross said that cost-of-living numbers at Penn are lower than many of its competitors. "Many of our strongest competitors are in areas that are distinctly more expensive in the cost of living area," Gross said.