September 7, 2004
TO: Deans and Department Chairs
FROM: Peter D. Spear, Provost
RE: Salary on Endowed Chairs and Professorships
Beginning in 2003-04, the Deans’ Council decided to use part of the annual endowment income to supplement the current salary of faculty who move into endowed chairs or professorships. This will be done only if the fund agreement with the donor allows it and only when the amount of the annual endowment income is sufficient. The salary supplement will be given while the faculty member holds the chair or professorship. It will not continue when the faculty member steps down from a limited-term chair or professorship. There was general agreement that we would do this as faculty are newly named to chairs and professorships. Many deans felt that we should not do it for faculty who currently hold endowed chairs because they might object to the decrease in annual research fund.
The model that has emerged is that when faculty are newly named to an endowed chair or professorship, the individual is awarded a $5,000/year salary supplement. The endowment also pays the fringe benefits on the supplement from the annual income or from the available cash, if any. Generally, this supplement is held constant from year to year; i.e., it is not increased in amount along with the annual merit increase to the 101 salary. The faculty member also typically receives an annual research account.
Here's an example: -Bascom professorships typically have provided the incumbent a $15,000/year research account. Under the new plan, they would award the faculty member a $5000/year salary supplement and a $10,000/year research account. Obviously, there can be variations on this model -- e.g., larger salary supplement or research account -- if sufficient funds are available and the faculty member merits it. At the same time, we should try to maintain some degree of equity across these awards.
Please implement this sort of arrangement for all newly-named endowed chairs or professorships when the fund agreement and annual income allow it. In addition, if you think it is appropriate in your school/college, you could switch faculty who currently hold endowed chairs or professorships to this arrangement. In the end, this program will allow us to improve the campus-wide salary structure for our best senior faculty, the very group that remains behind our national peers in median salary. This will help us attract and retain these outstanding faculty and enhance the quality of UW-Madison.