Purpose of the Initiative
Faculty compensation
A Message from the President
Dear Faculty,
When I arrived here I discovered that more than half our staff earned salaries below market minimum based on a sophisticated salary study. A similar sophisticated study had not yet been conducted for faculty, but disciplinary and other published salary scales for faculty indicated that most GCSU faculty were at or above market minimum. In light of these data, faculty agreed with me that serious staff compensation problems should be addressed first. That process was completed during last fiscal year.
I was pleased that last year we were able to engage the Pappas Consulting Group and the human resources consulting firm of McKnight Associates, Inc., to assess the compensation program for faculty positions and recommend improvements. This study has been long awaited by members of the faculty and academic administration.
This study was planned as a means of addressing market conditions; the thinking behind this process was to set in place an overall salary structure that in a later process could then allow the kind of fine-tuning that individual merit and inequity cases call for. For that reason, the study does not reflect extraordinarily meritorious or negative performance, time in rank, and so forth. The faculty advisory committee and others who have been involved in discussions of the study all agree that questions of merit should be addressed as a separate process within units. Any plans resulting from this study will move positions, not individuals, along a salary scale.
Following final discussions of the study and the completion of an implementation plan, we will move forward as funding allows to adjust salaries over the next few years. Improvements in the compensation program require careful financial planning and patience from all members of the University community. The degree of change and the time required to accomplish significant improvements are not yet known. We do know, however, that open communication is vital to the success of future improvements. I hope that you will take the time to read the consultants' summary report and the Q&A that we have made available on this site to learn more about the study, its purposes, and the work that lies before us.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Leland
President
