In trying to ferret out the truth from the many sources of data for faculty
salaries, I first want to thank John Garrett, Fritz Efaw and Richard Rice
for their efforts to enlighten the administration about the actual nature
of the low salaries here at UTC.  The claim of discipline dependent
averages from various sources has created a fair amount of skepticism on
the part of all of us as to how we really measure up.  The claims of 97,
95, 80% of peers or comparable institutions seem a bit skewed when compared
to our paychecks.

As a result, I feel compelled to share a bit of information about the
salaries in the Math Department.  I will only comment on the salaries of
the Full Professors but I'll add that the other ranks in this department
are in similar positions.

The AMS (American Mathematical Society) publishes an "Annual Survey of the
Mathematical Sciences" and I am using data from the Notices of the American
Mathematical Society, Feb. 2004,  vol 51, no. 2,  pp.218-233. Among the
other data is a survey of the salaries for different types of departments
of mathematics, depending on  type of degrees offered by that department.
The data  represents responses from 371 ( out of 1028 nationwide)  Group B
departments (that is, only  offering  the baccalaureate degree) with data
for the 2003-04 academic year. This may offer the best evaluation of our
peer institutions. The following information may be enlightening:

For Full Professors at these institutions, the first quartile Q1 = 58,900;
the median,  Q2 = 69,130; the third quartile Q3 = 82,600; and the mean was
71,917.  To put this in perspective, the highest paid Full Professor in the
Math Department  makes 62,600 (not counting the department chair and the
Chair of Excellence). Therefore , even if we include longevity (which is
suspicious at best),  the highest paid member of the department falls
roughly in the 40th percentile.

Comparisons with master's level institutions is even more depressing.  In
those (Group M) institutions the first quartile Q1 = 66,870; the median,
Q2 = 75,820; the third quartile Q3 = 84,740; and the mean was  81,205.  So,
our highest paid member  (with longevity included) is below the 25th
percentile.  I really would be curious to know how the administration can
claim the numbers that they do.

As for my personal situation, I have been a Full Professor for 10 years
and I am in the 26th percentile for Full Professors of Mathematics at
baccalaureate institutions.  Needless to say, my standard of living and my
morale sink lower every year.

If any other disciplines have statistics such as these, I encourage you to
share these so we may have a better understanding of how UTC compares.

Gene Schlereth