Non-Tenure Track Research Professors Are Getting the Biggest Raises, Survey Finds

Non-tenure track research faculty members have earned higher raises than their tenure-track and non-tenure track teaching counterparts over the past two years, according to the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

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The 2018 CUPA-HR Faculty in Higher Education Report, released on Wednesday by the association, evaluated median yearly salary increases for 238,698 full-time faculty members from 2016 to 2018. The study found that annual pay for non-tenure track teaching faculty members rose around 2 percent. Non-tenure track research faculty members’ salaries increased by around 2.5 percent. Faculty salaries overall grew by 1.7 percent.

The study also found that as faculty ranks climb, from assistant professor to full professor, female and minority representation drops in all types of faculty members, tenure track or not. Disciplines with the most women have the largest salary gaps, the report says, and disciplines with the fewest women have the smallest salary gaps.

Non-tenure track research positions are an exception to that pay gap. Women who are new assistant professors earn “significantly” more than men do, the study found. But there are relatively few women in non-tenure track research positions. “This could reflect an effort to recruit and retain women in these positions,” according to the report.

The study also found that adjunct faculty members made the least at two-year institutions, where they compose about two-thirds of all faculty members, and the most at four-year universities.

Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz is a breaking-news reporter. Follow her on Twitter @FernandaZamudio, or email her at fzamudiosuarez@chronicle.com.