Sophomore Taryn Marcorelle never knew that the Scantron-like forms that she fills out at the end of every course can directly affect her professors’ pay raises.
The forms, called the Student Evaluations of Teaching, grade professors’ performance and, with other factors, can directly affect faculty merit pay, which in turn affects faculty pay increases.
The SETs have a greater impact than some students realize.
Marcorelle, a student in the School of Public Affairs, said she had “no idea” the SETs have an impact on a professor’s pay.
“That’s a good thing,” she said. “It’s a reward.”
However, Marcorelle said she’s still going to rate her professors the same way.
“I don’t think it would have changed how I voted,” she said.
Cynthia Bair Van Dam, a college writing instructor, said the SETs are an objective way — similar to standardized tests — to distinguish professors’ performances because it is difficult to compare assignments between professors.
“In some ways, this is great because it does put a good deal of power in the hands of students,” Bair Van Dam said. “So they have a strong say in the quality of their faculty and who gets rewarded ... which is wonderful.”
However, Bair Van Dam added that these ratings can be detrimental to a professor if the students do not exercise this responsibility properly and treat the bubble sheets like the university’s version of the Web site “RateMyProfessors.”
The pay for AU’s faculty rose 2.9 percent in 2009. Each professor’s raise was higher or lower than that 2.9 percent rate as a result of his or her SET results.
Faculty become increasingly worried as the end of the semester nears and when the SETs are handed out, Bair Van Dam said.
Winning over those last two students who don’t like you is important because they could affect if a professor received a raise above or below the 2.9 percent, she said.
These scores, in addition to several other factors, can also affect a professor’s chances of receiving tenure.
Different departments place different weights for each factor, according to Interim Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Academic Affairs Kay Mussell.
A recent study found that faculty pay rose 1.2 percent nationwide in 2009 — the lowest annual increase in the 50-year history of the study, according to the American Association of University Professors.
This is below the national 2.7 percent inflation rate, according to The Washington Post.
The Board of Trustees determines the pay raise percentage in every two-year budget cycle. AU’s 2009 increase of 2.9 percent is above the national pay raise average and is a relatively high pay raise for a time of economic problems, Mussell said.
Mussell does not consider the pay raise to be low and said that in the last two years it has been in the range of three percent.
“We’re doing very well,” Mussell said of the faculty raise.
After the 2.9 percent raise, the average full AU professor salary became $146,500 for this academic year, according to the study.
However, some professors see this raise as low. Bair Van Dam said she continues to receive e-mails that say how well AU is doing financially compared to other schools, but she wonders why the raise was only 2.9 percent.
“It feels as if most of the raises that we get here are really sort of cost-of-living adjustments and not even raises,” she said, adding that many of her colleagues have taken on second jobs in bartending, editing and grading Advanced Placement tests over the summer.
Other D.C. schools’ pay raises differed from the pay raise at AU. The average salaries for full AU professors are higher than that of the average George Washington University professor but lower than for the average Georgetown University professor, according to the Post.
A full professor salary at George Washington University is currently $142,900 on average — $3,600 less than AU professors’ salaries. But GWU continuing faculty received a 5.1 percent pay increase from last year’s salary, 2.2 percent more than AU’s rate of pay increase.
An average salary at Georgetown University is currently $155,500. Georgetown faculty pay declined by 0.1 percent from last year’s pay, according to the Post.
You can reach this staff writer at sdazio@theeagleonline.com.
