Deans to decide who will receive money set aside to supplement faculty salaries

UA Administrators announced Friday that they have committed more than $2 million to increase the salaries of faculty, staff and appointed personnel.

For the next two years, administrators will set aside $2.5 million to supplement the money the university receives from the state for salaries.

This fund serves as a backup source for funding salaries in case the state does not have the money to contribute every year, Provost George Davis said.

If the budget gets cut in the future, Davis said he wants to be able to provide the same benefits to faculty as they receive while the state is in good financial shape.

"We have assumed the state would provide a salary package, but there may be years where we get zero dollars. And there may be years where we get very little," Davis said.

He said the fund would be like an "engine that drives the university year after year after year."

The $2.5 million will be targeted at specific individuals. Deans of colleges will be responsible for selecting who should receive the money.

"If we took this money and spread it across the board, it would not have a big impact," Davis said.

Administrators also said they have set aside $250,000 in an Equity Fund to try to reduce discrepancies in women and minority salaries.

"It means we have set aside funds to address inequitable salaries," Davis said. "These can include some women and minority groups."

In 2001, the Millennium Project, which was started to examine working conditions at the UA, found that women professors make an average of nearly $10,000 less than male professors per year.

Money from the fund will be distributed only after a "system-wide evaluation of salaries by college," Davis said.

Administrators will also direct $600,000 to hire more nursing faculty.

"We have been under enormous pressure to do something to increase the nursing school graduates," Davis said.

The university has started an "accelerated nursing program," allowing anyone who already has a bachelor's degree to return to take one more year of classes within the nursing college to become a nurse.

"In order to do the program, we need to hire more faculty," Davis said. "With the current budget rates, we couldn't do that."

In order to fight brain drain, the university has already set aside $550,000 for retention during the 2004 fiscal year. This money will be used to try to prevent faculty and staff members from leaving.

In 2002, the UA lost 49 faculty members.

The UA is also asking the state to help improve faculty salaries in order to prevent top-flight faculty from leaving the UA.

Administrators have requested $15 million from the state to retain key faculty. The Arizona Board of Regents supported this request at their meetings in Tempe Sept. 25 and 26. The request now has to pass the state Legislature before the money will be granted to the UA.