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Murray State University Women's Faculty Caucus Equity Study [Audio]

Matt Markgraf, WKMS

The Women’s Faculty Caucus at Murray State University recently released the results of its first salary equity study. The caucus appointed a committee last April to analyze university faculty salary data. The committee consisted of Maeve McCarthy (Mathematics & Statistics), Alexandra Hendley (Political Science & Sociology), Constance Alexander (English & Philosophy), Marjorie Hilton (History) and Chris Mecklin (Mathematics & Statistics). Statistical analysis was conducted by Chris Mecklin.

 
 

Dr. Maeve McCarthy is Mathematics Professor and chair of the study. She says it’s sad to see that gender was a statistically significant factor in faculty’s pay.

The Executive Summary of the study was:

Median salaries for male faculty were higher than median salaries for female faculty.

Some colleges and departments demonstrated equitable salary structures with respect to gender which the caucus commends.

Salary discrepancies can be explained in large part by underrepresentation of women in some male-dominated fields, particularly Engineering and Accounting.

In the Bauernfeind College of Business, College of Humanities and Fine Arts, and Hutson School of Agriculture there is little pay differential between Assistant and Associate Professors, suggesting the effects of salary compression.

Some of the recommendations following the study were:

The Bauernfeind College of Business and the Jones College of Science, Engineering and Technology should increase efforts to hire and retain more women tenure-track faculty.

The Bauernfeind College of Business, College of Humanities and Fine Arts, and Hutson School of Agriculture should increase efforts to address salary compression.

Further study is necessary to determine comparative effects with our benchmark schools.

Faculty members with full-time 9-month contracts were analyzed. Faculty with 10 and 12 month contracts were generally removed from the data, with the exception of University Libraries faculty whose salaries were converted to 9-month equivalents. Faculty with administrative roles were removed from the analysis. This left 347 full-time faculty in the data set, 194 of whom were male and 153 of whom were female. Median salary for a male faculty member was $60,674, while median salary for a female faculty member was $54,665.  There were 51 lecturers/senior lecturers, 138 assistant professors, 88 associate professors and 70 professors. Salary increased with rank and years of service. There were considerable differences in the salary ranges of the different schools and colleges.

In response to the caucus' findings, Murray State University issued a statement saying, “Murray State University recognizes that our people are our greatest asset. As such, the University has been working to commission a comprehensive salary study to begin this year. This study, which will be conducted in phases, beginning with faculty salaries, will examine national, regional and local trends by academic discipline with an emphasis on our employee recruitment areas. President Davies presented to the Board of Regents in September that the comprehensive salary study, as stated in the Strategic Plan, was a priority for this academic year and would be initiated in the second half of the year."

Ebony Clark is a student at Murray State University majoring in computer science. She was born in Brownsville, Tennessee. Ebony has served as a reporter for 4-H congress in Nashville, TN where she spoke with several state leaders and congressmen. Ebony enjoys writing poetry and spoken word and competed in Tennessee's Poetry Out Loud competition hosted by the arts council in Nashville,TN.