New retention plan may call for yearly increase in faculty salaries, tuition

Springfield - Sarah Mangelsdorf, acting dean of LAS, said she's "tired of playing in the minor leagues."

Mangelsdorf detailed the loss of several faculty members in a presentation for the University's faculty retention plan at the Board of Trustees meeting Thursday in Springfield. The plan calls for an average of a $37.4 million increase in faculty salaries each year starting for the fiscal year 2008 and ending in 2012.

Her metaphor echoed the feelings of University President B. Joseph White who called faculty the University's "most precious and valuable resource."

Student trustee Chris Kantas said the retention of faculty is a "huge priority" to him, and it should be to other students as well.

"It's so important that the academic reputation of the University of Illinois is sustained as well as increased," Kantas said. "It's also important that students are able to have the experience of working with and learning from the best possible professors that they can."

The discussion focused on the University's increasing difficulty in keeping prized faculty by losing them to other prominent institutions.

White said the University simply does not have the financial ability to offer fellowships and counter offers in enough cases to remain competitive. The University proposes a counter offer in about 50 percent of cases when faculty consider leaving for a different institution. However, White said that percentage does not reflect the University's willingness to let them go. Instead, the case is generally that the University cannot afford to make another offer. In about half of the cases where a counter offer is made, the faculty members choose to leave the University anyway, White said. The plan presented involves a 'Catch Up" and 'Keep Up' strategy.

The focus will be on prevention as the entire package in counter offers can exceed $1 million, according to the plan. The prevention method aims to be more cost effective by providing cutting-edge facilities, travel funding and possible discretionary funds for certain faculty who may consider leaving for a better offer at a different institution.

A large increase in the budget required for salaries will mean asking for additional funding from the state, but Chancellor Richard Herman said the money will be coming from many locations.

University of Illinois at Springfield's student trustee Sarah Doyle asked the trustees to remember that students are "maxed out" on tuition when considering how to acquire the additional funding.

White explained that if the quality of the University is allowed to decline because of the loss of prominent faculty, the value of degrees received here could decrease.

"In ten years you might look back and say 'maybe I wasn't maxed out on tuition,'" White said.

Kantas said that if tuition were to be increased, it would not be solely for faculty retention, but he hopes that "a significant portion of the money be allocated for faculty retention and faculty recruitment."