GCSU faculty salaries among lowest in state

     In comparison to other universities in Georgia, GCSU faculty members are underpaid.  Although GCSU representatives are in the process of balancing out salary standards, the issue remains a problem.  Anne Gormly, vice president and dean of Faculties has begun to perform market studies to better recognize the problem.
     “GCSU faculty members, on the whole, are generally paid less,” said Gormly.  “In response, GCSU’s administration has instituted a salary study that will be used to raise faculty salaries to at least the market midpoint.”
     GCSU continues to raise its standards with the third best SAT score average among incoming freshmen in the state.     Already, nearly 80 percent of professors at GCSU have achieved doctorate degrees from top level universities, but still remain underpaid among other universities in Georgia. 
     “It is because we have not previously done a market comparison of salaries.  As a result our merit and promotion raises have also been generally smaller than other institutions,” said Gormly.  “However, as GCSU has grown in its mission, stature and reputation, it has become clear that we are now competing at a national level.  Therefore, we are taking steps to address this issue so that we can continue to attract the best faculty and staff possible.”
     GCSU has already begun to correct the problem. All faculty members are paid based on their discipline or rank, whether it be a professor, associate professor or assistant professor.  The incoming teachers are already being compensated for their work, while veteran professors may not have to wait for their pension before GCSU raises its faculty pay standards. 
     “We have tried to correct (salaries) with our newer faculty hires by working to ensure they are in the market range,” said Gormly.  “We will work to bring all of our faculty members to the market midpoint for their discipline.”
     The teachers are affected first hand by their salaries being below normal, but the students are also affected.  The problem that precedes for the students is a lack of teachers. Sarah Fleetwood, a senior art major had trouble getting into classes.
“Not as a senior, but as a junior I could not get into my next Spanish class,” said Fleetwood who is required to take Spanish.  “The classes were full, but there weren’t too many classes to sign up for to begin with.”
     Spanish courses are not the only subject to fill up fast.  There are classes in almost every major that are difficult to attain.   GCSU has set forth a goal to even out the student to teacher ratio, which will help students get into the classes they need.
     “We would like to reduce our current student to faculty ratio to 15 to 1,” said Gormly.  “We have been successful in reducing our ratio from 24:1 to 17:1, but we need to get to 15:1.  We will continue to explore ways to accomplish this goal.”
     Wayne Henderson, a senior rhetoric major, recently researched teachers salary pay and found that public school’s paid teachers significantly less than private schools.
     “Whatever we decide to do, we need to have an incentive for (teachers) to want to come here,” said Henderson.  “We already have accreditation as Georgia’s public liberal arts university, but getting teachers here and keeping them here are two different issues.”
     However the problem has been recognized and GCSU will work on a solution.
     “We ask our faculty to be the best, and we recognize the need to pay them a decent and fair salary in return,” said Gormley.  “It is an important issue and one that is a top priority for the administration.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 30 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry