University of Iowa tenure- and clinical-track faculty receiving a promotion to associate professor or full professor will receive larger automatic salary raises, according to a change in the university’s promotional raise policy announced by Executive Vice President and Provost Montserrat Fuentes.

According to the new policy, tenure- and clinical-track faculty promoted to associate professor will now receive a $4,000 raise to their annual salary (up from $2,500), and faculty members in the same tracks receiving promotion to full professor will receive $6,000 (up from $3,500).

The new promotional raise policy will take effect July 1, 2020. 

“We are committed to supporting our outstanding faculty who work with such dedication to advance the university’s academic mission,” says Fuentes. “Scholarship, research, and discovery are central to that mission, and tenure-track faculty, in particular, are key to achieving distinction in those areas. This increase in promotional raises is a step in the right direction toward better recognizing faculty commitment to excellence, and it will help the university recruit in a very competitive environment.”

Following general practice on campus, colleges may determine whether to award similar promotional raises to instructional- and research-track faculty. College deans have been notified of the new policy and will soon communicate with their faculty regarding implementation in their unit.

“I am encouraged to see that our new provost is joining many leaders on campus in taking steps to support and increase the competitiveness of our faculty salaries,” says UI President Bruce Harreld. “Enrollment projections in the next decade show us that universities nationwide will be in closer competition with each other than ever before. Our university’s new budget model has empowered college leadership with greater control over their funds, so it is more important than ever that we all work together to strengthen faculty support.”

Recognizing faculty achievements and supporting faculty recruitment and retention are critical tasks in the UI Strategic Plan 2016–2021. In 2017, the colleges received $4.9 million to help raise average salaries for full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty. Colleges were asked to direct funds toward raising faculty salaries to 95% of the median of the university’s peer group. In addition, faculty salaries are an important metric in increasing Iowa’s national rankings, which consider faculty salaries as part of an assessment of overall faculty resources.