Objectives

1. Compare the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque central campus, continuing faculty compensation rates to average faculty salaries by rank at other public research universities.
2. Measure progress towards the goal of improving faculty salaries relative to other public research universities from Academic Year (AY) 2022-2023 to AY 2023-2024.

Note: In this report, we use Albuquerque central campus faculty to refer to faculty whose primary appointments are in Albuquerque-based academic units, thereby excluding the health sciences colleges/schools and branch campuses (Valencia County, Taos, Los Alamos, and Gallup).

Progress Reports

• Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty (pdf)
• Lecturer (pdf)

Population Studied

The UNM faculty population studied included all Albuquerque central campus tenured, tenure-track and lecturer faculty (all ranks) with an active appointment as of September 2022 and September 2023, excluding those with primary appointments in the health science schools/colleges. The population also excludes current faculty executives (Provosts, Vice Presidents, Deans), faculty administrators with an administrative base salary (e.g., Assistant Vice President, Director, Associate Provosts), and professors of practice, as there were no comparable titles in the dataset for professors of practice.

UNM Albuquerque Central Campus Faculty Distribution

September 2022

• Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty n = 748
  • Professors* = 290
  • Associate Professors = 276
  • Assistant Professors = 182
• Lecturers n = 137
• Excluded Faculty n = 35

September 2023

• Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty n = 743
  • Professors* = 308
  • Associate Professors = 261
  • Assistant Professors = 174
• Lecturers n = 151
• Excluded Faculty n = 34

*Includes Distinguished Professors

Academic Discipline Identification

Each faculty member’s academic discipline was identified via the U.S. Department of Education Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code assigned to their position number in UNM’s Human Resources Information System, Banner. CIP code assignment was initially made during the compensation study conducted by the Office of Academic Affairs in 2016. For faculty hired after the 2016 study, the CIP code assignments were made by the department via the hiring action submitted through UNM’s applicant tracking system, UNMJobs.

Comparison Group

Oklahoma State University Faculty Salary Survey by Discipline

First published in 1974, the Faculty Salary Survey by Discipline is a project directed by Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) Office of Institutional Research and Analytics to produce a national sample of average faculty salaries by discipline that higher education administrators and government officials use for salary budget decisions.

In the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 OSU Faculty Salary Surveys, 103 institutions participated and included many universities belonging to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). The OSU faculty salary survey has consistent participation from Carnegie Classification Very high research activity-R1 institutions with 79 of 82 R1 institutions participating for the past three years.

Additionally, OSU reports data for lecturers, categorized as “Other Faculty” in the data in the same categories given above.

The OSU survey provides data from R1 institutions that consistently participate in the survey, includes lecturer salary data, reports salary information by academic discipline (CIP code), and consists of data by geographic regions and geographic regions by Carnegie Classification. For these reasons, the OSU dataset is used to compare UNM Albuquerque central campus faculty salaries. The OSU R1 data provided average salary for all but 5 UNM utilized CIP codes.

The following comparison groups were selected for use with the UNM faculty salary study:

• 2021 - 2022 OSU R1 Institutions
• 2022 - 2023 OSU R1 Institutions

Library Faculty

Neither of the OSU faculty salary surveys include library faculty in their survey population. For library faculty in the College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences (CULLS), the salary survey produced by the Association for Research Libraries (ARL) was utilized as the comparison group. The OSU data set was used for the School of Law library faculty with the comparison to law faculty by rank using CIP Code 22.01.

The following comparison groups were selected for CULLS library faculty:

• 2023 ARL salary survey
• 2021 ARL salary survey

Methodology

Faculty Salary Data

Faculty salary data was collected on the following dates:

• September 18, 2022
• September 25, 2023

Calculate UNM faculty (ABQ central campus) 9-Month Base Salary

The faculty salary survey reports full-time, academic year salaries.

• For faculty with an appointment percent (FTE) below 100%, the UNM HRIS system, Banner, reports the pro-rated annual salary based on the faculty member’s appointment percent (FTE). The full-time equivalent (base salary) was calculated.
• For fiscal year faculty (12-month), the 9-month base salary equivalent was calculated using the conversion formula prescribed by Faculty Handbook Policy C50. A twelve-month salary figure is converted to a nine-month salary by multiplying the twelve-month figure by 9/11.

CIP Code Adjustments

CIP Codes Updates: Five UNM utilized CIP codes did not correspond to an average salary in the OSU R1 data set. For those CIP codes, the UNM faculty member’s CIP code assignment was updated to the “general” 4-digit CIP code within the discipline. For example, CIP code 13.02: Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education was adjusted to CIP code 13.01: Education General. Below are the five UNM utilized CIP codes and the corresponding adjustments:

Salary Comparison

• For each CIP code, the average salary by rank was identified from the OSU survey data.
  • For September 2022 salaries, the average salary by rank was identified from the 2021-2022 OSU R1 data.
  • For September 2023 salaries, the average salary by rank was identified from the 2022-2023 OSU R1 data.
• The following information is presented in the salary comparison table:
  • # Faculty: Faculty count
  • FTE AY Salary: Total full-time equivalent Academic Year (AY) salary for all faculty within the grouping given in the table (e.g. for a unit, for a unit by rank, etc.).
  • OSU R1 Estimated Salary: Total average salary from OSU comparison date by CIP code and rank for faculty within the grouping presented in the table (e.g. for a unit, for a unit by rank, etc.).
  • Salary Spend Delta: Using OSU comparison data, this is the expected salary spend for a group of UNM faculty (e.g. for a unit, for a unit by rank, etc.). This is the difference between the "FTE AY Salary" and the "OSU R1 Estimated Salary."

Note: Distinguished Professors are compared to Professors for an OSU salary comparison.

CULLS Librarians

For CULLS librarians, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) salary survey was used as the comparison group. The ARL salary survey does not include data by faculty rank, CULLS applied the following methodology to determine the applicable average salary by rank:

1. Subtracted ARL mean years of experience from actual years of post-degree experience.
2. Conducted a linear regression on years of service to predict incremental salary per years of service.
3. Calculated the predicted salary based on the difference in years of service.
4. Determined the average salary by rank by adding the current UNM raises for promotions to predicted salary.

For Academic Year 2022 - 2023 salary comparison, the average salary by rank was identified from the 2020 ARL data.

For Academic Year 2023 - 2024, the average salary by rank was identified from the 2021 ARL data.

The “Salary Spend Delta” was calculated using ARL comparison data adjusted by expected salary spend by rank. This is the difference between the “FTE FY Salary” and the “ARL Estimated Salary.”