Salaries Rise 3.8 Percent for Professors

Chronicle of Higher Education 3/12/07

By Scott Smallwood

Faculty salaries rose 3.8 percent this year, helped by larger increases at public universities than in recent years, according to a survey by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

While salaries at private universities have risen faster over recent decades, average pay for professors at public institutions climbed 3.9 percent for 2006-7, according to the survey. Increases at public baccalaureate institutions were even higher: 4.2 percent. Salaries at private institutions rose 3.7 percent.

The CUPA-HR survey, unlike the salary survey conducted by the American Association of University Professors, does not report salaries by institution. Instead, it categorizes the numbers by discipline and rank.

For the ninth year in a row, law professors continue to earn the most, on average. Full professors of law earn an average salary of $121,301. Engineering was the only other field where full professors earn, on average, more than $100,000.

In several fields, the average salaries for full professors are below $75,000, including English, the performing arts, and theology.

The survey, which reports salaries for 2006-7, includes responses from 824 institutions and covers more than 205,200 professors. The full report is available on the association's Web site (http://cupahr.org).