Deaton updates faculty about budget
The budget anticipates a 4 percent increase in state revenue.
Published April 4, 2008
Chancellor Brady Deaton gave faculty members an optimistic look at the university's budget and said MU is making progress in raising faculty salaries.
Deaton gave an update on the MU budget for the upcoming fiscal year, as well as information related to Compete Missouri, the initiative to raise MU faculty salaries, during the general faculty meeting Tuesday.
"We are projecting at this time a $1.8 million possible surplus," Deaton said. "Clearly to the extent that we can achieve a surplus like this - and that's small on the size of our budget - it clearly gives us buying time and meet time to move into next year and address the problems that we have as we move into the next segment of the year."
In the budget presented, revenue from the state would increase 4 percent. During another presentation, though, UM system Governmental Relations Director Marty Oetting said a 4.2 percent increase could be possible based on action taken in the Missouri Senate. Deaton said that a 4.2 percent increase in state revenue was the number originally proposed.
This budget also includes money for increasing faculty salaries though the Compete Missouri initiative.
MU's faculty salaries are near the bottom of the list compared to faculty salaries at other member institutions of the Association of American Universities.
Deaton said through money being generated by not filling vacant faculty positions, faculty salaries could be increased by an additional 3 percent, bringing the total increase in faculty salaries to about 7 percent.
"Our plan was to do this for three years in succession and make the assumption that other public research, AAU universities would only increase at the rate of inflation," Deaton said. "If we did that, then we move to the median of the AAU publics."
Provost Brian Foster said the administration has tried to make faculty actively involved in the process.
"We tried to be as open as we possibly could," Foster said.
He said small faculty breakfasts and other events were used to create dialogue between faculty and members of the administration.
Deaton said working to raise the salaries to the median of the AAU is a reasonable goal.
"Some faculty are insulted that we aren't saying that we want to be in the top five or the top 10," Deaton said. "Well, I have high desires also, but I am willing to fight hard for being at the median of those 34 public AAU's. And then if we can do more, because the quality of what we do is certainly at that level, and we need the reward."
But the hold in hiring new faculty to create new revenue comes at a time when projected enrollment increases at MU appear to be above average for the coming academic year.
"We realize very fully that as we get the realization of these projected enrollment increases, that places more teaching demand on the faculty, and that we have to find a way to get revenue to meet that teaching need," Deaton said. "Ideally, we would be meeting it with tenure track faculty, and to the extent that we can work with chairs and deans, we will achieve that."
Deaton said raising faculty salaries has been a goal of his since he first became chancellor, and that raising faculty salaries will be important for continued success at MU.
"We're not happy with this because it makes it very, very difficult to compete effectively for new faculty and to drive educational programs, and to do the other important things that we want to do to be a great university," Deaton said.