Faculty resignations at the University of Iowa in fiscal year 2016 remained flat, and medical faculty continue to constitute the largest portion of resignations, according to an annual report submitted to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa.

From July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, 94 assistant, associate, or full professors at the UI resigned. That represents 4 percent of the 2,343 permanent faculty at the university, closely aligning with the 3.9 percent of faculty who resigned the previous year.

Although the UI faculty resignation rate is slightly higher than most universities in the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), 56.4 percent of resigning UI faculty belonged to the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, and, according to Kevin Kregel, associate provost for faculty, medicine experiences a significantly higher turnover rate than other academic fields.

“About 48 percent of UI faculty belong to the college of medicine,” says Kregel, “and those faculty have more opportunities outside academia that can draw them away. Clinicians with specialized training, like many in the college of medicine, are particularly in high demand. The university competes for these individuals with other universities, governmental institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or private practice, where they often receive greater compensation.”

Other members of the BTAA that have medical schools also report resignation rates among medical faculty to be significantly higher than the university as a whole.

Of the faculty resigning from the Carver College of Medicine, about 43 percent accepted a position at another university and about 42 percent entered private practice. This differs significantly from the total number of resigning permanent faculty, 53 percent of whom accepted positions at another university, and about 29 percent of whom entered private practice. The remaining resigning faculty in medicine and campuswide accepted another position within the university or relocated for personal reasons.

Matching results from exit surveys in fiscal year 2015, the recent exit surveys reported that on average, the highest faculty satisfaction was with the general atmosphere of the university and Iowa City community. This echoes results from the 2016 Working at Iowa Survey, in which 85 percent of faculty reported that they would recommend the UI to a friend seeking employment.

However, according to the exit surveys, the average lowest reported faculty satisfaction was with compensation.

After reviewing faculty compensation in 2015, UI President Bruce Harreld announced a faculty vitality initiative to raise the average faculty salary to at least 95 percent of the national average within three years. The initiative aims to help recruit and retain world-class faculty and has led to an average faculty salary increase of 2 percent in its first year.

After recent budget cuts to higher education from the Iowa General Assembly, President Harreld reaffirmed a commitment to the faculty vitality initiative.

“There is one area in which we absolutely cannot compromise: faculty compensation,” says Harreld. “We can’t lose the gifted educators and researchers who call the University of Iowa home, and we must continue to recruit talented people.”

The Office of the Provost deploys a variety of programs and initiatives to recruit and retain high quality and diverse faculty. The UI extends the tenure clock to faculty who have children during their pre-tenure years, offers professional development programs, and makes quick-response counteroffers to faculty considering positions at other institutions.

The UI also recently led the formation of the Central Midwest Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, which will in part help the UI’s Dual Career Services respond to the growing number of dual-career couples in academia.