This week the Chronicle of Higher Education released the results of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) 2013-14 Faculty Salary Survey, and Belmont again performed exceptionally well in comparison with its peer institutions in terms of category (Master’s level) and region of the country.
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher, said, “Belmont has long been committed to attracting and retaining the highest quality faculty to serve our students, and that translates in part to offering competitive compensation. I’m pleased to see how far we’ve come and how our faculty salaries now rank in the 80th percentile or better among all of our peer institutions nationally.”
Provost Dr. Thomas Burns added, “As the AAUP salary survey data shows, Belmont’s faculty salaries have grown to among the best in Tennessee and in the southeast region.”
Of the 22 Tennessee institutions in the survey, Belmont ranked fourth in the average full professor salary ranking, behind three doctoral level institutions: Vanderbilt, University of Tennessee Knoxville and University of Memphis. In addition, Belmont offered the second highest average raise for continuing full professors. Associate professors at Belmont ranked third in the state for average salary, as did assistant professors. Belmont instructors are the highest paid in terms of average state salaries. In the East South Central region—which includes Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi institutions—Belmont also came out well above the average salary in each category.
Looking nationally at peer Master’s level institutions, Belmont remains incredibly competitive in salary ranges for faculty. In fact, Belmont full professors rank in the 80th percentile in salary in comparison with peer institutions across the country. Associate professors, assistant professors and instructors are doing even better, ranked in the 86th, 93rd and 89th percentiles respectively.
These results reflect Belmont’s ongoing commitment, as reflected in Vision 2015, to provide for its employees: “Belmont people are fully engaged in challenging and demanding work and will share in the financial success of the university as salaries meet and exceed peers. Compensation will increasingly be tied to performance excellence.”
Each spring, the AAUP publishes its report on faculty compensation and the economics of higher education. AAUP members receive a print copy of the report (with complete data listings) as part of their membership. Data from the survey are also available for purchase in several formats, including institutional peer comparison reports, complete datasets and pre-publication report tables. Salary data are collected annually by the American Association of University Professors. Participation in the AAUP survey is optional; 1,157 institutions submitted data for the 2013-14 academic year.
Belmont Associate Dean of Nursing Dr. Martha Buckner has been appointed to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam’s State Board of Nursing.
In March, nine students from Belmont University presented their research at the Alpha Chi National Honor Society Convention at the Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Mo. Faculty advisor Dr. Sarah Ann Fleming (Mathematics) also attended the convention. The annual Alpha Chi convention is organized around student presentations by juniors and seniors from their respective chapters.
Dr. Douglas Murray, professor of English, presented two papers at the American Society for 18th-Century Studies in Williamsburg, Va. on March 22. The first paper was entitled “Truths Universally Acknowledged?: Jane Austen in the Gen Ed Curriculum,” and the second paper was entitled “‘Feast of Reason and Flow of Soul’: Hospitality in the Life and Work of Margaret Doody.”
Three current Belmont English students and one recent graduate of the master’s program had papers accepted at the 109th Meeting of the Tennessee Philological Association on Feb. 20 through 22 at Lipscomb University. Dana Perry, a December Master of Arts alumna, delivered a paper called “Shattering the Myth: Lorraine Hansberry’s The Drinking Gourd.” Cathy Kelly presented “Nabokov, O’Neill, and the Pathos of Place.” Will Hodge presented “REMYTHX: Adaptation as Remix in Eugene O’Neill’s Desire under the Elms and Mourning Becomes Electra.” Misty Ayres-Miranda presented “Electra’s Release in Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra.” Dr. David Curtis, professor of English and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, moderated the session and presented another paper at the conference.
On March 20, three Belmont Department of English faculty presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication held in Indianapolis, Ind. Dr. Sarah Blomeley and Dr. Amy Hodges Hamilton presented together on a panel entitled “Open(ing) Wounds: Accessing Trauma in the Classroom and Community.” Blomeley’s talk was titled “In Loving Memory: Public Grief and the Future of Mourning in America,” and Hodges Hamilton’s talk was titled, “When Access to the Personal Becomes Pedagogical: Childhood Cancer and the Composition Classroom.” In addition, Dr. Jason Lovvorn gave a talk called, “Open Sourcing the College Composition Teacher: Using MOOCs for Professional Development and Pedagogical Improvement.”
The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE)
