What You Teach Is What You Earn

What You Teach Is What You Earn

Survey finds 2.2 percent median salary increase for tenure-track faculty members at four-year colleges and universities in 2015-16, but wide variation by discipline.

      By Scott Jaschik // March 28, 2016

A new assistant professor of computer science at a public four-year college or university in 2015-16 earns, on average, a little more than $85,000. A full professor of history -- likely with 20-plus more years of teaching experience -- earns on average a little less than $90,000, and will likely have her salary passed by the new computer science professor in a few years.

That sort of disciplinary gap is highlighted each year in the annual faculty salary report by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. This year's was released today.

The study by CUPA-HR found an overall median salary increase across disciplines of 2.2 percent for tenure track or tenured faculty members.

CUPA-HR also releases data on some non-tenure-track faculty members, finding they are paid -- across the board -- less than those on the tenure track. An important caveat to those data is that only non-tenure-track faculty members who work full-time at an institution are counted, and many part-timers are likely paid much less (even if adding up their various commitments at various colleges).

The CUPA-HR study is one of two annual reviews on the state of faculty salaries. A larger study by the American Association of University Professors, which also includes data from community colleges, will be released in April. While that study is not yet available in full, the AAUP projects it will show larger gains than found in the CUPA-HR study -- 3.4 percent (or 2.7 percent adjusted for inflation). While the CUPA-HR study focuses on disciplines, the AAUP study includes institution-by-institution figures. Last year's data from the AAUP, which will be updated next month, may be found here.

What most stands out in the CUPA-HR data are the disciplinary gaps. The best paying fields for full professors (public and private combined) are legal ($145,732), business ($129,904) and engineering ($129,012). Theology is the only field where the average for full professor is less than $80,000 ($79,838).

Business is the only field in the study where new assistant professors average a six-figure salary ($113,924). New assistant professors in key humanities fields earn just over half that total. The average for new assistant professors of English is $57,592 and for history the figure is $58,412.

The large salary gaps for new professors may understate the financial impact of these differences. Generally, those in the higher-paying disciplines are also in fields where time to degree for Ph.D.s is considerably shorter than those in the low-paying fields. So those being paid the least have taken the longest to be able to apply for full-time jobs, and on average have more debt.

A full report with more data than are found below may purchased from CUPA-HR here.

The following table shows averages by discipline and rank, for public and private four-year institutions.

Average Faculty Salaries, 2015-16 by Sector, Discipline and Rank

Discipline/Rank	All	Public	Private
Agriculture
--Professor	102,328	102,691	96,185
--Associate professor	79,433	79,822	73,870
--Assistant professor	70,273	71,230	59,673
--New assistant professor	72,135	72,581	n/a
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Architecture
--Professor	108,653	110,056	102,031
--Associate professor	83,470	82,532	87,671
--Assistant professor	67,821	67,626	68,668
--New assistant professor	68,848	68,532	70,680
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Area, ethnic, cultural and gender studies
--Professor	107,572	107,836	106,779
--Associate professor	79,123	77,193	83,554
--Assistant professor	65,560	64,404	68,755
--New assistant professor	66,895	65,799	69,574
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Biological and biomedical sciences
--Professor	103,879	109,228	94,492
--Associate professor	76,932	79,559	72,928
--Assistant professor	66,524	69,120	62,571
--New assistant professor	64,922	66,375	61,797
--Instructor	53,923	52,750	55,169
Business
--Professor	129,904	131,720	127,104
--Associate professor	110,031	113,193	105,215
--Assistant professor	105,958	109,128	101,076
--New assistant professor	113,924	115,807	109,612
--Instructor	72,307	76,446	62,787
Communication and journalism
--Professor	92,241	93,285	90,946
--Associate professor	70,967	70,994	70,935
--Assistant professor	59,924	59,090	60,993
--New assistant professor	59,842	58,781	61,910
--Instructor	49,087	48,679	50,164
Communication technologies
--Professor	94,089	95,487	91,572
--Associate professor	74,291	74,081	74,652
--Assistant professor	61,691	61,313	62,182
--New assistant professor	56,864	60,665	n/a
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Computer and information sciences
--Professor	113,646	115,757	109,876
--Associate professor	92,906	94,362	90,456
--Assistant professor	81,810	82,719	79,753
--New assistant professor	84,821	85,094	83,749
--Instructor	62,225	64,150	58,616
Education
--Professor	92,764	92,870	92,517
--Associate professor	71,722	71,465	72,263
--Assistant professor	61,253	61,358	61,013
--New assistant professor	60,526	60,592	60,306
--Instructor	53,502	54,191	51,746
Engineering
--Professor	129,012	129,700	127,138
--Associate professor	97,023	96,720	97,873
--Assistant professor	84,197	83,825	85,194
--New assistant professor	83,419	83,798	82,234
--Instructor	66,499	64,668	n/a
Engineering technologies
--Professor	97,103	96,276	105,237
--Associate professor	78,894	78,061	91,235
--Assistant professor	69,892	68,873	79,279
--New assistant professor	69,665	68,735	n/a
--Instructor	52,747	52,747	n/a
English
--Professor	87,735	86,961	88,545
--Associate professor	68,015	67,092	69,008
--Assistant professor	58,242	57,576	58,976
--New assistant professor	57,592	57,113	58,359
--Instructor	46,893	45,712	49,648
Family and consumer sciences
--Professor	99,572	99,014	102,487
--Associate professor	75,529	75,032	78,491
--Assistant professor	64,453	64,435	64,562
--New assistant professor	64,777	64,769	n/a
--Instructor	48,556	n/a	n/a
Foreign languages and literatures
--Professor	94,698	92,710	96,910
--Associate professor	71,466	69,276	73,867
--Assistant professor	59,838	58,937	60,861
--New assistant professor	59,402	59,113	59,979
--Instructor	52,427	48,592	56,902
Health professions
--Professor	108,064	110,346	102,914
--Associate professor	83,630	84,221	82,476
--Assistant professor	70,512	70,688	70,181
--New assistant professor	71,605	71,910	70,981
--Instructor	62,751	64,080	60,775
History
--Professor	89,536	89,663	89,416
--Associate professor	68,593	67,677	69,542
--Assistant professor	59,141	58,425	59,977
--New assistant professor	58,412	57,348	60,625
--Instructor	45,449	43,704	48,066
Homeland security and law enforcement
--Professor	91,192	93,325	86,426
--Associate professor	72,036	72,125	71,851
--Assistant professor	59,818	60,029	59,378
--New assistant professor	59,742	59,363	60,841
--Instructor	54,395	46,679	60,998
Legal professions and studies
--Professor	145,732	141,284	150,114
--Associate professor	109,109	104,828	113,742
--Assistant professor	95,606	89,861	104,044
--New assistant professor	90,429	86,429	97,106
--Instructor	83,255	n/a	85,645
Liberal arts/general humanities
--Professor	91,954	92,577	90,991
--Associate professor	71,290	72,267	69,826
--Assistant professor	59,798	60,360	59,001
--New assistant professor	59,427	60,348	57,278
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Library science
--Professor	88,531	87,805	91,074
--Associate professor	72,513	71,422	76,375
--Assistant professor	61,037	61,978	58,147
--New assistant professor	63,432	62,104	n/a
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Mathematics and statistics
--Professor	94,710	95,593	93,558
--Associate professor	72,777	73,392	72,021
--Assistant professor	64,411	65,690	62,681
--New assistant professor	66,062	67,981	62,690
--Instructor	49,571	48,789	51,032
Multi-interdisciplinary studies
--Professor	105,855	111,614	96,907
--Associate professor	79,387	81,362	77,121
--Assistant professor	65,466	65,423	65,514
--New assistant professor	61,493	61,661	61,289
--Instructor	49,855	n/a	n/a
Natural resources
--Professor	100,200	100,512	98,627
--Associate professor	77,234	76,847	78,718
--Assistant professor	66,397	66,806	64,390
--New assistant professor	70,753	70,924	n/a
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Parks and recreation
--Professor	89,281	91,035	85,096
--Associate professor	70,977	71,834	69,411
--Assistant professor	60,302	60,984	59,006
--New assistant professor	61,159	62,255	57,752
--Instructor	51,841	53,285	49,273
Philosophy and religious studies
--Professor	92,741	93,625	92,205
--Associate professor	70,937	70,635	71,136
--Assistant professor	59,808	59,786	59,824
--New assistant professor	60,738	59,813	61,537
--Instructor	53,166	49,580	55,318
Physical sciences
--Professor	97,733	99,180	95,655
--Associate professor	74,574	75,632	73,135
--Assistant professor	64,685	66,099	62,630
--New assistant professor	66,108	67,593	63,500
--Instructor	54,080	53,524	55,807
Psychology
--Professor	94,218	96,201	92,174
--Associate professor	71,872	72,262	71,493
--Assistant professor	61,542	61,832	61,219
--New assistant professor	61,695	62,470	61,044
--Instructor	52,924	52,688	53,367
Public administration and social service professions
--Professor	99,243	100,438	96,289
--Associate professor	75,713	76,216	74,644
--Assistant professor	64,266	65,199	62,166
--New assistant professor	64,477	66,061	59,921
--Instructor	51,079	48,772	n/a
Social sciences
--Professor	99,219	98,367	100,935
--Associate professor	76,367	75,408	77,702
--Assistant professor	66,446	64,806	66,416
--New assistant professor	67,376	66,686	68,825
--Instructor	51,788	48,925	59,077
Theology and religious vocations
--Professor	79,838	n/a	79,838
--Associate professor	65,783	n/a	65,757
--Assistant professor	56,590	n/a	56,590
--New assistant professor	57,794	n/a	57,794
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Transportation and material services
--Professor	92,888	91,288	n/a
--Associate professor	79,678	80,977	n/a
--Assistant professor	66,272	67,541	n/a
--New assistant professor	n/a	n/a	n/a
--Instructor	n/a	n/a	n/a
Visual and performing arts
--Professor	87,065	85,962	88,422
--Associate professor	68,320	67,057	69,889
--Assistant professor	57,800	56,579	59,424
--New assistant professor	57,367	56,074	60,560
--Instructor	49,569	49,272	49,975

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