Faculty to receive merit-based raises

JMU will give merit-based 3 percent raises to faculty in December. The raise comes after an across-the-board pay raise that all faculty received in July.

"The across-the-board increase was to catch them up with inflation," said Doug Brown, the academic enhancement vice president and provost. "We adjusted assistant and associate professors 2 percent and full professors 3 percent."

According to Brown, full professors were given more because their salaries in general were falling behind on a national level. "A full business professor at JMU makes $30,000 less than a professor at the same level in another state, but an associate business professor is only $10,000 behind on the national level," Brown said.

The pay raise in December is "regular merit increase that occurs in most years, although this is the first time in a while we’ve had a merit increase," Brown said.

Who will be receiving the pay raise depends on faculty performance in three areas: the professor’s teaching, his or her scholarly activity and research and his or her service to the university and community, according to Brown.

"Depending on how the faculty member is rated in their departments depends on if they will get a raise," Brown said.

According to Brown, the money for this pay raise will come from the state of Virginia. The state adds up all the faculty salaries and then multiplies by 3 percent, and that is how much money is given to the university for the pay raise.

"The rate of increase in faculty pay depends on the state you are in," Brown said. "It is usually between 3 and 5 percent a year.

"This is the first year we will have actually exceeded the rate of inflation a little because of the summer increase."

The money for the summer raise came from the university’s general fund, meaning it came from the full university budget and state tuition, according to Brown.

"Virginia had been one of the states furthest behind in faculty salaries; other states raise faculty salaries by 5 to 6 percent a year," Brown said. "In general, there is a serious issue with Virginia universities staying competitive with hiring faculty. I and other Virginia state provosts are worried and so is the governor.

"We need to give faculty adequate raises each year, an average of about 6 percent raise each year, to keep up with inflation and to give them some reward because that is clearly what other state universities are doing.

"There is a shortage in most disciplines, and to recruit the best faculty we must pay them well."
Sophomore Brian Clay said, "I don’t mind seeing faculty get a raise. It will be more motivation [for them] to work hard."