Curators discuss bids for faculty
Published Oct. 9, 2007
Audio: Chancellor Deaton's comments
MU Chancellor Brady Deaton told the UM system's governing board that another major university had made offers to faculty members to lure them from MU.
Deaton and the other three system chancellors addressed the UM system Board of Curators on Friday.
Deaton said an offer had been made to "two groups of faculty in absolutely key programs here on campus from another major institution." He said the other institution would "simply absorb" one to three faculty members in each of the two programs.
Deaton said the expertise that these faculty members have is near the top in the nation.
Deaton said the major institution is offering signing bonuses in the $30,000 range, a salary increase of about 50 percent or more and $1 million in start-up costs per unit.
"That's not atypical," Deaton said. "We've lost faculty with those kinds of offers. We have a lot of faculty being targeted right now."
Board of Curators Chairman Don Walsworth prompted these comments from Deaton during the meeting after a discussion that he had with Deaton in previous days.
"We have a lot of faculty being targeted right now," Deaton said.
Faculty Council Chairman Frank Schmidt said competition for faculty is an issue for MU.
"It's a significant problem," Schmidt said.
To make MU more attractive to faculty, Deaton introduced the Compete Missouri initiative this summer to help to raise the salaries of faculty.
"We are trying to raise approximately $7 million in savings and cost revenue to fund salaries for campus faculty," MU spokesman Christian Basi said. "Our faculty salaries are next to last among the public schools in the Association of American Universities."
The only other university with lower salaries than MU in the AAU is the University of Oregon, Basi said.
Compete Missouri aims to cut costs by eliminating some centers and institutes and leaving some vacant faculty positions open.
"The problem with Compete Missouri is that it comes with a cost," Schmidt said.
In the short run, leaving faculty positions vacant could cause a drop in the number of faculty employed by MU. Schmidt said Compete Missouri could reduce the faculty by as much as 10 to 15 percent.
But Basi said Compete Missouri would have "definitely no layoffs and a large commitment to quality control."
Schmidt said there is more to keeping faculty happy than just their salaries. He said legislative regulation in regard to teaching is not sitting well with some faculty members.
"Political interference is political interference," Schmidt said.
Deaton said when offers are made to faculty, university officials, including department heads and the provost, meet with the faculty members to "enable them to achieve their academic potential."
Schmidt said he believes this is a problem that needs to be addressed soon, since the faculty is the core of the university.
"The faculty is very much a part of an unbroken tradition that goes to the founding of the university," he said.