As part of the fiscal year 2025 budget process, we’re reviewing the potential for salary increases as we do during most budget cycles. One of our goals is to work to ensure Missouri State University maintains competitive salaries for all our employees.

Last year, the Executive Budget Committee and the Faculty Senate raised questions about the College and University Professional Association (CUPA) faculty salary comparisons.

Provost John Jasinski tasked Chief Academic Strategy Officer Ken Brown with:

• Ensuring the CUPA faculty data submission was accurate.
• Reviewing the set of peer institutions MSU compares itself to for CUPA purposes.
• Identifying potential solutions for providing comparison data to those faculty who have not had comparison data available from CUPA in the past.

The outcome so far

In the fall, Ken met with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Faculty Senate to listen to their concerns and committed to a collaborative and transparent process. He pulled together a team of faculty, academic unit leaders and administrators to take on this work with him.

• The team ensured the data submission accurately included and excluded faculty based on the CUPA guidelines. For example, this resulted in excluding department heads and school directors from the submission since they do not meet the CUPA criteria for inclusion.
• They also ensured that faculty ranks, classification of instructional programs (CIP) codes, degrees held and other submission data were accurate.
• Additionally, and probably the most important, they ensured the salary data itself was accurate. This included adjusting faculty salaries to a 9/10-month equivalent, adjusting salaries for faculty on full-year sabbaticals and ignoring any supplemental pay faculty earn, all based on CUPA’s guidelines.

Ken shared the data with the deans, who reviewed it and identified a few corrections. Then, before submitting the data to CUPA, Ken returned to the Faculty Senate to discuss the process he and his team followed, answer questions and get feedback.

For the past few years, we’ve been using Carnegie Doctoral/Professional schools as peer institutions. This peer set is a small number of schools – 22 peers last year – which limits the comparison data available from CUPA. This year, Ken’s team recommended we expand that set to include both the Doctoral/Professional schools and the Masters: Large Programs schools. This will significantly expand the set of peers we compare ourselves to and increase the likelihood that comparison data will be available for more faculty.

Finally, the team has identified a potential solution for faculty who still may not have comparison data after expanding the peer set. We won’t know if this solution will work until we see the survey results in March, but the team is hopeful we will have comparison data available for all faculty.

Overall, Ken and those he worked with ensured the accuracy of the CUPA data submission, reviewed and made recommendations for an improved set of peer schools, and identified a possible solution to provide comparison data to those faculty who haven’t had comparison data available in the past.

It’s important to note this process was completed collaboratively and transparently, including faculty, academic unit leaders, administrators and the Faculty Senate throughout the process.

As a result of this work, the Executive Budget Committee feels more confident as we begin to review Missouri State’s salaries for faculty and staff as compared to the higher ed market. A big thanks to Ken and everyone who has worked on this project.

Don’t forget Missouri State’s Giving Day begins today and continues through 10 p.m. tomorrow. I know that’s longer than a day – we just want to be sure everyone has time to participate!

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State.

Clif