Kent State faculty salary increases better than national average

Lyndsey Schley

The average salary increase for full-time tenure track faculty at Kent State University is above the national average, according to a report by the American Association of University Professors.

This year’s 3.4 percent average increase is higher than the national average of 3.2 percent, said Jeff Milam, executive director of Kent State’s Academic Budget and Resource Management.

This average includes faculty excellence awards, Milan said, and without these extra awards received by faculty members, the average would be approximately two percent.

Due to inflation, the average American faculty member is seeing a 1.7 percent increase, according to the report, which is close to price increases.

This is an improvement because the increases have been less than inflation for the last three years; however, this is primarily because inflation has been higher in the past few years.

Full-time tenure track faculty at Kent increased 3 percent during the 2009-2010 school year, 4.5 percent during the 2010-2011 school year and 2 percent during the 2011-2012 school year, Milan said. Lower percentages in the 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 academic years were a result of no faculty excellence award increases.

On the other hand, Kent state full-time non-tenure track faculty wages increased by 2.5 percent this year, Milam said. They received a 4 percent increase during the 2009-2010 school year, 3 percent during the 2010-2011 school year and 2 percent during the 2011-2012 school year.

No national statistics were available for full-time non-tenure track faculty.

The Kent State chapter of the American Association of University Professors did not return our calls and emails seeking a comment.

Contact Lyndsey Schley at [email protected].