The University is finding it difficult to compete for highly qualified faculty in the national market because of budgetary restrictions, which in turn is affecting the quality of education on campus, according to documents from UNM’s Finance Committee.
According to the data presented to the Board of Regents by University officials, the departmental operating budgets have not been increased si nce the 2008 fiscal year, and even then, “academic operating budgets were increased in total only by $500,000.”
The trend resulted in understaffed departments in many areas, according to officials.
The University, however, has relocated $3 million of internal savings to fund a compensation increase for fiscal year 2014.
The American Association of University Professors conducted a survey in 2014 and found that average salaries for faculty at UNM are far below those of its peer institutions.
According to the survey, average salary offered by UNM to full professors during the financial year 2012, was $106,900, which is far below the median — the 24th percentile of doctoral institutions in the survey.
In comparison, the University of California at Riverside, a UNM peer institution, offered $131,300 to full professors.
Similarly, the salaries of associate professors also remained far below the median, according to the survey.
“At the assistant professor level we compete very well with our peers, but we do not do as well as faculty progress to the associate professor and full professor levels,” Provost Chaouki Abdallah said. The School of Law and Anderson School of Management faculty salaries are particularly lagging behind their peers, Abdallah said.
“For our peer law schools, many provide salaries well above those at the University of New Mexico School Of Law. I have not performed a comprehensive study, but our salaries here are approximately $10,000 to $30,000 less per year, depending on title — assistant, associate or full professor — and years of experience,” said David Herring, dean and professor of Law at UNM.
Herring added that lateral hiring was a challenge, and offering competitive salaries was critical to success.
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“We are performing at a high level despite our relatively low salaries. However, this high level of performance is not assured in the future,” Herring said. “It is very competitive in legal education right now. Low salaries could soon hurt us in fulfilling our educational and service mission.”
Meanwhile, UNM head basketball coach Craig Neal earns $950,000 per year in base salary — a raise of $200,000 a year — as part of Neal’s new contract. Neal’s salary ranks highest among basketbal l coaches in the Mountain West Conference. Only one team in the athletic conference, University of Nevada - Las Vegas, is considered a peer institution.
In April 2014, the American Association of University Professor s, an organization working for the adva ncement of academic freedom and shared governance, claimed they had found evidence that due to excessive spending on athletics, institutions were losing focus on academics.
“Even coaches in ‘minor sports’ racked up increases in compensation far above those earned by faculty members,” the report stated. “The evidence is strong — current institutional decision making emphasizes athletics to the detriment of academics and student success.”
Abdallah said the administration was doing its “level best” to compensate the faculty.
The University had provided 3-percent average compensation increases to the faculty during the last two years, he said.
Sayyed Shah is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistant-news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @mianfawadshah.
