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 Recruitment:competitive compensation attracts outstanding scholars and teachers  iring new scholars was an expensive proposition a few years back, recalls Kenneth R. Biederman, a professor and former dean of the College of Business and Economics. "The market for hiring new Ph.D.s became very competitive," he says. "As a result, the price we were paying to bring in young assistant professors often exceeded the salaries of associate and full professors who had been with us for years." |
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| The situation, known as salary inversion, had a damaging impact on the morale of long-term faculty members. Inadequate compensation levels can undermine recruitment efforts and even jeopardize the quality of a university's best programs, agrees new B&E Dean Dana J. Johnson. In chemical engineering, for example, outstanding scholars were easy targets for competing institutions, says Michael T. Klein, the department's former chair. "I spent a lot of my time worrying about whether my faculty were going to be lured away," he recalls. "We're loaded with top-rated faculty, and other institutions are always checking us out. It's a fact of life that salaries do matter. When faculty are fairly compensated, there's less of a driving force for them to leave." Fortunately, compensation levels at the University of Delaware no longer lag behind most other competing institutions. When compared to 24 other top graduate universities in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, the University's total compensation package for full professors was highly competitive, ranking eighth in 1995 up from 17th in 1990. Total compensation levels for associate professors ranked fifth, compared to 18th just five years earlier. For assistant professors, the University moved from 15th on the list to sixth, based on total compensation. The University also has made improvements in compensation levels for professional and staff employees. According to an in-house study, average professional salaries in 1993 were above the median at the University of Delaware, compared to similar institutions, across seven of eight job categories. Staff salaries were higher, on average, across five of six job categories. In terms of total compensation packages for professional and staff employees, the University surpassed all other comparators, at all job levels. A superior benefits package represents roughly 29 percent of the average faculty or professional paycheck, and about 41 percent of average staff salaries. Private donors can boost recruitment efforts by setting up named professorships, explains Stewart Stabley, interim director of University Development. MBNA America, for instance, supports the MBNA America Business Professor of Finance. Donald Puglisi, who holds the professorship, has returned the favor by setting up a scholarship in honor of his father. Across campus, employees like Puglisi are doing their part to strengthen the University's fiscal foundations. During F.Y. 1996-97, Stabley reports, employees contributed $394,656, and 107 faculty and staff were members of the Delaware Diamonds Society, pledging gifts of $5,000 or more over a five-year period. |
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