Thursday, April 01, 1999
NKU salaries increase 2.5 percent
Classrooms to benefit by 16 percent
BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS — Faculty and staff at Northern Kentucky University will see pay increases of about 2.5 percent next school year as the university pumps more money into instructional materials and programs.
The salary increases are down from the 4 percent awarded last year.
Instructional units will see a funding increase of 16 percent, and NKU will hire 10 new full-time faculty while increasing part-time faculty salaries by 10 percent.
“We made a conscious choice to invest in faculty salaries and in areas that affect the faculty's quality of life,” NKU President James Votruba said at Wednesday's board of regents meeting. “These are major investments, and this budget balances the need for both.”
The regents passed an $82.7 million budget Wednesday that includes $466,914 for faculty raises and $125,000 to address faculty salary inequities; as well as $383,190 for staff raises and $125,000 to improve the salaries of some of the university's lowest-paid employees.
For the first time, staff raises will be merit-based under a plan approved last May. In the past, staff salaries were
determined by across-the-board raises and additional merit pay.
Reaction from staff is mixed, said Mike Baker, vice president for administration, finance/treasurer. Mr. Baker said staff received training in performance evaluations to make sure they are ready to handle the changes.
Faculty regent Barry Andersen said faculty members are generally pleased with the budget. Faculty had requested only a 3 percent operating increase for instructional units. The need for additional faculty members is great, Mr. Andersen said.
“There's a lot of money being put in,” Mr. Andersen said. “In the best of all worlds, we'd have a large pay increase, too. But the faculty takes comfort that the operating budget is going up.”
The budget allocates $475,800 to hire new full-time faculty, $155,880 for a 10 percent part-time faculty salary increase, $156,012 for the operating budget and $391,100 for instructional equipment.
NKU employs 1,200 people, 340 of them faculty members. The university is the fourth-largest public employer in Northern Kentucky, behind the Internal Revenue Service and Kenton and Boone counties' schools.
In 1995-96 and 1994-95, faculty and staff received a 3 percent salary increase; there was a 5 percent raise in 1993-94. There was no increase in 1992-93, but faculty and staff received a 7.5 percent increase in 1991-92. The 1999-2000 budget is $4.4 million larger than the current $78.3 million budget.
Other budget items include:
• $827,162 to improve campus technology.
• $329,816 in scholarships for students scoring a 29 or greater on the ACT. Twenty such students will enter NKU next year and will receive four-year scholarships.
• $100,000 in scholarships for students scoring a 22 or better on the ACT.
• $100,000 to market the university.
• $100,000 for innovation grants to encourage faculty to be entrepreneurial and open to change.
• $60,000 in scholarships for graduate and law school students.
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