Up@dawn 2.0

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Making Faculty and Staff Salaries Competitive at MTSU

Posted for Don Enss, by Don Enss

Two years ago, on 18 March 2016, I was sitting in my living room watching what was certainly one of the greatest upsets in NCAA basketball tournament history. My daughter came running in asking why MTSU was trending #2 on Twitter, and I pointed to the TV. My wife joined us, and we watched the last five minutes together. Our hearts were racing. We were holding our breaths with each shot and cheering wildly at the end. MTSU had defeated Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. MTSU had the nation’s attention. This year, the thrilling final minutes of that game were shown at the beginning of March Madness, and again MTSU delivered with a first-round win against Minnesota.

Success on the court translated into money for MTSU and Conference USA and national recognition for MTSU. According to journalist Colt Kesselring, MTSU’s payout for Conference USA was $3,423,568.00 (Kesselring). With MTSU’s victory over Michigan State, it rewarded Coach Davis with a new contract increasing his 2014 annual base salary of $350,000 to $575,000 this year through the 2023-24 season. MTSU knew that other universities were interested in hiring him to improve their program and willing to pay him more than he was receiving in 2014. In a free market system, businesses, organizations, and institutions pay competitive salaries if they want to retain employees, whether they are coaches, faculty, or staff. Retaining Coach Davis has produced some long-term benefits to the program. An article in the Daily News Journal described the 2018 recruiting class: “all highly sought, all with other attractive offers, the trio of high school seniors represents arguably the strongest recruiting class composed exclusively of four-year players whom MTSU coach Kermit Davis has reeled in during his 16 years at MTSU” (Bacharach ).

Excellent coaching attracts talented athletes, which yields victories on and off the basketball court. This is true for faculty and staff as well as coaches. Recruiting and retaining the most qualified faculty and staff ensures that higher rated students are admitted, which results in higher graduation rates, more successful career placements, and an elevated national recognition. In Money magazine’s 2017-18 survey of 2400 colleges, only 711 met their basic criteria. Then they ranked those based on three categories: quality of education, affordability, and outcomes (Kim Clark). MTSU did not make the list of 711. A reporter from Money explained why MTSU was not on the list: “The problem is with the college’s six-year graduation rate. It’s 43%, according to College Navigator & the federal government’s [Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System] IPEDS system, which is a few points below the median rate for public four-year colleges” (Kaitlin Mulhere). The argument that other magazines might have a different ranking methodology is true. However, Money magazine is well-known. Debby Fowles, an accountant and author of several finance books, rated Money as her first choice of financial magazines (Fowles). If we are not ranked in their magazine for any reason, doesn’t it behoove MTSU to find out what we need to do to be included in next year’s list? It’s free marketing!

If the issue is our graduation rate, what do we need to do to improve it? We can start by making a long-term commitment to recruit and retain highly qualified faculty and staff by paying them more. Many are not even receiving the market salary for their position. If we recognize that one coach is not as good as another, then why can’t we recognize the same truth in our faculty; they are not interchangeable bodies. When the Georgia General Assembly failed to increase faculty salaries for years, Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby told lawmakers in 2013, that “states don’t come after our weakest faculty. They come after our best” (Walter C. Jones). His plea was heard because UGA President Dr. Jere Morehead declared in his 2015 State of the University speech that “pool for salary increases was my top legislative priority last year. I remain grateful to the Board of Regents, the General Assembly, and the Governor for supporting it. However, the University of Georgia still lags behind regional and national peers in this regard. That is why improving salaries for faculty and staff will remain a top priority for the foreseeable future” (Morehead).

Other universities also have a long-term vision on faculty recruitment and retention. Dr. Gregory Geoffroy of Iowa State University is focused on their faculty through 2050. He says, “we recognize the need to attract and retain a high-quality faculty” (Gregory Geoffrey). In 2002, the University of Southern California focused on recruiting faculty:

“In a major initiative to upgrade its reputation and compete nationally for faculty superstars, USC is launching a $100-million effort to hire 100 high-profile professors over the next three years, campus officials said Friday,” and they recognized the need to address one of their weaknesses. “USC officials said the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences--the biggest undergraduate division, but also home to many graduate students--traditionally has had a weaker reputation than other schools at USC. They said the lagging status of the college has threatened to hinder what has been a dramatic rise in the stature of the university in the last decade” (Stuart Silverstein).

When these and other universities search for high-profile faculty who are underpaid, they know where to look to recruit them. They can just read articles with a headline like this one from the 10 July 2016 issue of the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: “MTSU Faculty Pay Below Average” (Wilson). Likewise, when high quality professors are considering a university to affiliate with, they know where not to look.

Most professors are like anyone who looks for employment. They will search for a university that will offer them a competitive salary, in a good location, with some social and cultural amenities. In their search, they will compare the cost of living for an area, the quality of schools (if they have children), and the cost of housing. Invariably, they will start their search by checking the national salary ranking for their discipline, then the regional ranking, and finally the state ranking. If a university’s salary is not reasonably competitive, they probably won’t consider its location. Currently, MTSU’s faculty salaries are not competitive. Two recent studies, Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University in May 2015 (William Canak, PhD, et al) and Proposed Faculty Market Salary Study in April 2016 (Beeby, James, Ph.D.,et al ) clearly indicate that the MTSU faculty are paid significantly under the market level for their discipline and rank. As you can see from figure 1, faculty salaries at MTSU are not competitive.






Figure 1 Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University: A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate of Middle Tennessee State University - May 2015, p18.

Figure 2 below presents the data from Figure 1 in graph format with the first column in Raider Blue representing MTSU.



Figure 2 Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University: A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate of Middle Tennessee State University - May 2015, p5.

Additionally, as Figure 3 demonstrates, MTSU professors have seen their purchasing power decrease by 9.6% since 1998-99, (Canak).



Figure 3 Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University: A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate of Middle Tennessee State University - May 2015, p14.




Other charts and graphs in the Addendum after Works Cited provide additional information. Unfortunately, for almost all charts and graphs MTSU has the lowest faculty salary for all positions.

No current studies were available to identify how competitive market salaries are for staff, but MTSU needs to conduct a survey on this to ensure that qualified employees are not being recruited away by businesses in a growing local economy. What type of an adjustment is required to bring faculty salaries to the market value for position and rank? In the Proposed Faculty Market Salary Study, it was determined that the average adjustment to bring faculty salaries competitive with the market would require a 12.7% increase (Beeby 1-2).

The argument that the cost of living in Murfreesboro is lower and should be considered before increasing faculty and staff salaries has merit, but as Scott Broden reported in the 20 May 2016 Daily News Journal article, as of 1 July 2015, Murfreesboro was ranked “as the 13th fastest-growing city with at least 50,000 residents in the nation” (Broden). With the growth in Murfreesboro and surrounding Rutherford County, cost of housing will increase and qualified faculty at MTSU will not be able to afford to live here on their salary. Also, with the higher growth rate we are experiencing, businesses that locate here want to employ qualified individuals from MTSU who are familiar with the community and committed to it. Are we doing all that we can to prepare our students for those jobs?

Let’s consider one example. Sara Hays is finishing her doctorate in English at MTSU. In her current position, she meticulously reviews theses and dissertations to ensure that each MTSU candidate’s paper reflects well on her/him and MTSU. She has taught at Cumberland and Vol State. She loves MTSU and the community, and MTSU has nurtured her, but when she graduates she will have to consider another university because the salary at MTSU is not adequate compared to what she could make at some community colleges; our university will have lost an excellent professor whose knowledge and experience in shepherding students through their theses and dissertations would be invaluable to many future candidates and whose expertise could be communicated to undergraduates to prepare them to write higher quality essays and reports.

The current outcomes-based funding formula discourages investment in faculty like Sara. On paper, it sounds great – do more with less. Is this a good long-term strategy to employ in improving MTSU’s graduation rate and national recognition? It only focuses on one side of the equation – output. The state limits the amount of money budgeted for the pool. If all universities in the system improve their output at the same rate, none receives additional funding because funding is fixed. They only receive additional funding when the output of another school in the system declines because they receive some of that school’s share (Cunningham).

A balanced approach to funding looks at both input and output. If a brick manufacturing company wants to increase its output of bricks, demanding that its workers work an extra hour every day for the same pay might work in the short run, but in the long run its experienced workers will leave to find employment at another brick manufacturing company and the quantity and quality of bricks manufactured will decline as less-experienced and less-qualified individuals are hired. However, if the company invests in equipment upgrades and hires qualified employees to run the new equipment, then production will increase along with profits. Similarly, if we want to see MTSU’s student graduation rate increase and realize an increase in the number of graduated students who are gainfully employed, we must invest in recruiting and retaining quality faculty and staff.

One part of the mission statement specifies that MTSU, “recruits exceptional faculty and develops resources to support excellence in instruction, research, creative activity, and public and professional service” (MTSU). How are we achieving that mission? The Board of Trustees’ Bylaws stipulate that their focus is on “the welfare of the entire University paramount over any other interest” (MTSU Board of Trustees). What is the obligation and responsibility to the students? MTSU students must compete with students from other universities for a limited number of high quality jobs. When our career development center has one of the highest student to staff ratios, (Fletcher), how are we ensuring that MTSU students can compete on a level playing field with students from other colleges? When MTSU faculty experience no salary increases or see their purchasing power diminish, how is that helping to recruit and retain exceptional faculty?

We can learn a lot from our basketball program. If we invest in a great coach, we get competitive players and national recognition. If we invest in our faculty and staff, we get well-educated students who graduate on time. The key to our success is our Board of Trustees. Under their new leadership, the future of MTSU is now. For some of them serving on a public university board is new and I appreciate their expertise, knowledge, and service as they learn more about MTSU. I was heartened by the questions they asked after they listened to Ms. Musselman’s excellent presentation in the Finance Committee meeting about faculty salaries. I could tell they understood the gravity of the issue of underpaid faculty and staff and I appreciated their desire to do what is necessary to correct the inequity and help MTSU succeed. I have no doubt that they can offer some creative solutions on ways to increase faculty and staff salaries, to secure funding from sources through their business networks, and to promote MTSU as a university of excellence in many disciplines.

Works Cited

Beeby, James, Ph.D. et al. “Memo to Provost Dr. Brad Bartel, Middle Tennessee State University.” Murfreesboro, TN. 29 April 2016.

Bacharach, Eric. “Is MTSU men’s basketball’s 2018 recruiting class best in Kermit Davis era?”

http://www.dnj.com/story/sports/college/mtsu/2017/11/20/mtsu-mens-basketballs-2018-recruiting-class-best-kermit-davis-era/880642001/

Broden, Scott. “Mayor proud Murfreesboro on fastest-growing cities list.” Murfreesboro, TN. 20 May 2016. http://www.dnj.com/story/news/2016/05/20/mboro-13th-fastest-growing-us-city-above-50k-people/84649602/

Canak, William Ph.D., et al. “Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University.” Murfreesboro, TN. May 2015.

Clark, Kim. “2,400 colleges + 27 data points = 711 Best Colleges For Your Money.” College is a great investment—if you choose the right school. Find your best college with rankings that combine educational quality, affordability, and alumni success. 10 July 2017. http://time.com/money/best-colleges/rankings/best-colleges/. Accessed 9 November 2017.

Cunningham, John, PhD. Personal Interview. 21 November 2017.

Fletcher, Bill. Personal Interview. 3 October 2017.

Fowles, Debby. “The Top Personal Finance and Money Magazines.” the balance https://www.thebalance.com/the-top-4-personal-finance-and-money-magazines-1289697 27 October 2016.

Geoffroy, Gregory. "Preparing for the Faculty of 2050 at Iowa State University." Presidency, vol. 13, no. 1, Winter2010, p. 23. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.mtsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=47565015&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Jones, Walter C. "No Pay Raises for Georgia Professors Creates Concern; Chancellor Warns That Recruiters from Other States Moving in." The Florida Times Union, 2013. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.mtsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgbe&AN=edsgcl.320598699&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Kesserling, Colt. “How Much Money Each NCAA Tournament Team Earned for their Conference.” HeroSportsColt, 26 March 2017, https://herosports.com/ncaa-tournament/how-much-money-ncaa-tournament-earned-conference-2017-basketball-fund-a7a7. Accessed 16 November 2016.

Middle Tennessee State University. “Mission Statement.” Rev. 12 September 2017.

Middle Tennessee State University Board of Trustees. “Bylaws.” Rev. 13 September 2017.

Morehead, Jere W., President University of Georgia. “2015 State of the University,” https://president.uga.edu/statements_remarks/detail/sotu/2015-state-of-the-university, 21 January 2015.

Mulhere, Kaitlin. “College rankings.” Initial email sent to Dr. Matthew Soldner on 15 November 2017 asking why MTSU was not included in the list of 711 colleges. Forwarded by Dr. Soldner to Ms Mulhere, a reporter for Money, for her response which was received on 20 November 2017.

Silverstein, Stuart and Trouson Rebecca. "USC's $100-Million Academic Pursuit; Education: The Bid to Upgrade Its Faculty May Heat up Bidding Wars for the Nation's Best Professors." Los Angeles Times, 2002. http://articles.latimes.com/2002/sep/28/local/me-usc28.

Wilson, Brian. “Study: MTSU faculty pay well below average.” Daily News Journal, 2016. http://www.dnj.com/story/news/2016/07/08/study-mtsu-faculty-pay-well-below-average/86683984.
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Addendum



Figure 5 Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University: A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate of Middle Tennessee State University - May 2015, p17.






Figure 6Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University: A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate of Middle Tennessee State University - May 2015, p4.







Figure 7 Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University: A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate of Middle Tennessee State University - May 2015, p7.



Figure 8 Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University: A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate of Middle Tennessee State University - May 2015, p8.



Figure 9 Study of Faculty Salaries at Middle Tennessee State University: A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate of Middle Tennessee State University - May 2015, p9.

Don Enss, for Prof. Kates
English 1020-012
1 December 2017

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