AAUP NMU
409 Cohodas Building Northern Michigan University 1401 Presque Isle Ave. Marquette, MI 49855
Phone: (906) 227-1602 Fax:(906) 227-1354
Please stop in or contact Jeannie Wratschko, Office Secretary,
to set up a meeting with an officer, or email a member of the Executive Committee.
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AAUP NMU 2008/2009 Budget
Available at the Office:
Tax & Financial Guide to
College Teachers (2002)
Promotion & Tenure workshop videos
Samples of successful promotion, tenure, and sabbatical applications
Chapter 25th Anniversary video
Purpose
The Chapter supports the purposes of the National AAUP to promote the
values
of instruction, higher education, and research; to advance the
standards,
ideals, and welfare of the academic profession; and to serve as the
collective
bargaining agent for the faculty of the University.
RECENT NEWS AND INFORMATION
On September 23, the AAUP-NMU faculty voted to decline the proposed contract. Click here to view the press release. Data addressed in this press release are shown in the figures below.
NMU AAUP President Ron
Sundell addressed the NMU Board of Trustees at their July 2009
meeting
on the
importance of maintaining quality education at NMU. Dr. Sundell's
comments to the Board of
Trustees and the Board's minutes are available through these links:
President Sundell's
comments to the Board of Trustees
Jully 2009 Board Minutes
Figure 1 (below). The student-faculty ratio expressed as Full Year Equated Students (FYES) divided by Full-time Teaching Equivalents (FTE) for all Michigan IIA public universities. NMU (shown in green) is still the highest but has decreased since last year and is now at 20.7. The next highest of our peers is Oakland University with a ratio of 20.5. The average student-faculty ratio of our peers is 17.2.
Figure 2 (below). Money spent on instruction as a percent of the total expenditures. NMU (35.6%) remains significantly lower than the average of Michigan IIa universities (40.4%).
Figure
3. Change in faculty and
administration compensation (below). The
total compensation
for faculty was divided by total faculty FTE (full time equivalents),
and the
total compensation for administrators and professionals was divided by
the
total administrative and professional FTEs. This
plot compares the compensation per FTE for faculty
and
admin/professional over a five year period. The overall change in
compensation/FTE from 2003-04 to 2007-08 for faculty was 1.7% and for
admin/professional was 25%.
Source
of data: HEIDI
Figure 4. Comparison with peer institutions (below). This plot compares the percent change in compensation per FTE from 2003-04 to 2007-08 for the Michigan IIA public universities. NMU has the lowest increase in faculty compensation per FTE over this period (1.7%) and the highest increase in admin/professional compensation per FTE (25%). Source of data: HEIDI
USA Today: “Don’t Blame Faculty Salaries for the Rising Cost of College”
In this USA Today editorial published on March 30, 2009 by Gary Rhoades, general secretary of the American Association of University Professor, he begins with, “Budget-cutting measures being pursued in higher education are often based on faulty premises and insufficient information. These measures too quickly cut to institutions' educational core, unnecessarily compromising quality and productivity.”
Rhoades goes on to say, “To many people, it makes sense that faculty should be major targets for savings.” The Data Analyst’s report under 2c above reinforces his point in that NMU spends significantly less on instruction than do other Michigan IIA institutions. Rhoades continues by pointing out that “faculty salary increases have been well below tuition increases and salary increases for senior administrations.” What is rising, however, Rhoades stresses is the “use of less costly contingent faculty.”
To read Rhoades full editorial in which he stresses protecting the “core educational function” of higher education, see http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/03/cuts-hurt-educa.html.
Other Information:
EPC Annual Report: The Educational Policies Committee annual report for 2006-2007 academic year.
Link: Promotion and Tenure Workshop link