Salaries reflect competitive forces

Is your economics professor who can't seem to communicate outside of the supply-demand graph equally as competent an instructor as your fluent Italian literature professor? Regardless, chances are the economics professor is better paid.

Published studies conducted at multiple universities, including the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Washington, showed great discrepancies in salaries between departments, some with double the average salary of another department at the same university.

Princeton does not publicly publish departmental salary statistics.

Princeton professors are, on average, the third highest paid in the nation, according to a report published by the American Association of University Professors earlier this year.

Though last year's average yearly salary for a full professor at Princeton was nearly $150,000, the range of salaries can vary.

The University is required to publish its overall average, but departmental averages are kept confidential. As a result, many professors are unaware of the salaries of their colleagues in other departments.

"I've only been the department chair for one month, but I believe there is no general feeling about being underpaid or overpaid [in our department]," Classics Department Chair Denis Feeney said. "Perhaps it's a material point in and of itself that I really don't know what other departments' professors are earning."

Salary increases and averages are overseen by the Committee of Three, another name for the Faculty Advisory Committee on Appointments and Advancements. The group meets twice weekly with President Tilghman to advise her on appointments, promotions and faculty salaries.

Caryl Emerson, a member of the Committee of Three and chair of the Slavic languages and literatures department, declined to comment due to her position on the committee. However, she said she didn't feel the humanities were poorly treated in regard to relative earnings.

"After all," she said, "we don't make any money for the University."

In contrast, the professors of the science departments are in high demand, not only in academia but also by large pharmaceutical companies and the biotech industry.

Although the University provides a haven for independent laboratory research at the discretion of faculty members, it must still compete with commercial industries.

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Science faculty also have the potential to bring in large research grants to the University, increasing both prestige and funding.

Similarly, economics and finance professors are sometimes lured away from the business world.

"People in the sciences have other options," art and archaeology department chairperson Patricia Brown said. "For us, the other option is probably a museum."